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'y& 


mmmm 


NIAGARA: 


ITS 


HISTORY  AND  GEOLOGY, 


INCIDENTS  AND  POETRY, 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


BY 


GEORGE  W.   HOLLEY. 


lew  a«fe  «m: 

SHELDON     a'InD     COMPANY. 

BREED,    LENT   AND    CO.,  BUFFALO    N.Y. 

HUNTER,  ROSE  AND  CO.,  TORONTO. 

1872. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1872,  by 

GEORGE  W.    HOLLEY, 
in  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington. 


%  %  5'1     ^-S 


•  JJjunter,  Rose,  &  Co.,    ,** 
Printi^rs,  Toronto,  Canad*.**.  ,* 


•  •» 


*  >    •  ,  •  •  • 


MM 


lo  th^  P^martj 


OF   MY   DEPARTED    FRIENDS 


PETER    A.    PORTER 


AND 


JOEL    R.    ROBINSON 


I    DEDICATE   THIS   VOLUME. 


^ 


In  the  conventional  code  of  human  homiletics  they  were 
separated  in  their  lives  by  the  accident  of  birth  and  difference 
of  education  ;  but  by  their  unselfish  natures,  their  genial  and 
gentle  susceptibilities  and  sympathies,  their  love  of  Nature 
and  thorough  enjoyment  of  its  ever  varying  moods  and 
phases,  they  were  on  fit  occasions  fit  and  willing  associates. 

The  one,  answering  the  sharp,  quick  summons  of  the  battle 
field,  gave  his  life  for  his  country. 

The  other,  after  having  repeatedly  saved  the  life  of  others, 
gave  up  his  own  from  a  bed  of  sickness. 

In  that  sphere  of  divine  and  all  embracing  Charity  whither 
they  have  gone,  the  pure  gold  of  their  lives,  freed  from  all 
earthly  alloy,  will  shine  with  equal  lustre,  and  they  who  were 
companions  in  time  may  be  friends  forever. 

With  them  the  author  had  many  pleasant  excursions  on 
the  waters  and  along  the  shores  of  the  Niagara  River.  *  * 
*  *  *  Will  the  links  of  the  broken  chain  be  reunited  in 
the  Endless  Hereafter  .-* 

GEORGE  W.  HOLLEY. 


ERRATA. 


i 


On  page  15,  line  16,  for  ''Vista''  read  ''Vesta." 

On  page  28,  line  8,  omit  "  the  "  before  "  Niagara." 

On  page  53,  line  25,  in  part  of  this  edition  the  word 

"  geodiferous  "  is  erroneously  spelt  "  grodiferous." 
On  page  59,  line  9,  for  "those"  read  "these." 
On  page  73,  line  12,  for  "gradually"  read  "grandly." 


^ 


I 


} 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Dedication iii 

Preface ix 

CHAPTER  I. 

First  discovery  of  the  country — Artillery  and  the  sword  /■'.. 
precursors  of  the  Cross — The  Cabots — Portuguese — 
Gasper  Cortoreal — First  French  expedition — Verrez- 
anna — Second  French  expedition — Jacques  Cartier — 
Size  of  his  vessels — Modern  yachts — Cartier's  second 
expedition — First  hears  of  the  great  Cataract — Cham- 
plain — Father  Ragueneau — Feather  Hennepin's  first 
and  second  visits  to  the  Falls — Carriage  drive  under 
the  American  Falls — Rattlesnakes — Professor  Kalm. . 


IS 


CHAPTER  II. 


1687 — Baron  La  Hontan — Description  of  the  Falls —  ^ 
Beasts  and  fish  drawn  over  them — Taken  out  by  In- 
dians— Their  canoes  precede  the  white  man's  skiff  and  ^ 
yawl — 1721 — M.Charlevoix — Letter  to  Madame  Main- 
tenon — Number  of  Falls —  Geological  indications  — 
Great  projection  of  the  rock — Cave  of  the  Winds — Pass- 
ing through  it — Exhilarating  trip — Rainbows 20 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  name  Niagara — Baron  La  Hontan — Beautiful  Ian-  ^ — 
guage  of  the  Hurons — Jesuit  Missionaries  reach  Niag- 
ara in  1626 — Oldest  of  Indian  names — Splendid  terri- 
tory to  which  it  belonged — Description  of  the  river — 
Immense  drainage 24 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Niagara  a  tribal  name — Other  names  given  to  the  tribe, 
and  why — Father  Lalement's  letter — Niagaras   a  su- 


VI 


Conkuts. 


PAGE. 
perior  race — Indian  language — VuW  sound  of  vowels — 
Corrupt  abbreviations  —  True  pronunciation — End  of 
French  rule  in  America— United  States  and   Great 
Britain  now  owners  of  Niagara 28 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  lower  Niagara — La  Salle's  first  entrance  to  it — 
First  defensive  work — Fort  Niagara — Fort  Miss- 
issauga — Niagara  village — Lewiston — Portage  around 
the  Falls — ^First  railroad  in  the  United  States — 
Fort  Schlosser — Old  orchard — Queenston— Butle*" — 
Ambuscade  at  Devil's  Hole— Cayuga  Creek — The 
Griffin,  first  vessel — Navy  Island-— Niagara  frontier. ' 


I 


34 


CHAPTER  VI. 

America  the  old  world — Geologically  recent  origin  of 
the  Falls — Evidence  thereof— Captain  William's  sur- 
veys for  ship  canal — -Former  extent  of  Lake  Michigan— 
Its  outlet  into  Illinois  River — The  Niagara  Barrier- 
How  broken  through — Niagara  born 43 


CHAPTER  VII. 

'  Composition  of  terrace  cut  through— Why  retrocession 
is  possible — Three  sections  from  Lewiston  to  Falls — 
Devil's  Hole — Medina  group — Recession  long  check- 
ed— Whirlpool — Soon  cut  out — Outlet,narrowest  part  of 
river — Rapids  above — The  mirror — Depth  of  water/- 
and  chasm — Former  grand  Fall — Height   of  Falls. .  . 


53 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Recession  above  present  position — Falls  will  be  higher 
as  they  recede — Reason  Why — Possible  new  feature- 
Present  and  former  accumulations  of  rock — How  re- 
moved— Terrific  power  of  the  elements — Ice  and  ice 
bridges 62 


1 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Niagara  in  winter — Frozen  spray — Ice  foliage  and  ice 
apples — Frozen  sunlight — Frozen  rainbows — Ice-moss 
— Frozen  fog — Rataplan  of  icicles — Ice  islands — Ice 


C 


mm 


'i 


1 


Contents. 


Vll 


PAGE. 

Statues  —  Sleigh-riding  on  American  rapids  —  Hoys 
coastingon  them — Ice  gorge — Ice  pulling  up  trees — Re- 
markable geognosy  of  earth's  surface — Bottom  of  Lake 
H uron  below  tide  water 69 

CHAPTER  X. 

Judge  Porter—  General  Porter ^ — Goat  Island — Origin 
of  its  name  —  Its  diminution  —  Early  dates  found  on 
trees  and  in  rock  —  Visited  by  the  Indians — Kalm's 
wonderful  story  —  Bridges  to  the  Island — Method  of 
construction^ — Red  Jacket — Anecdotes — Stone  Tower 
—  Biddie  stairs — Sam  Patch— Depth  of  water  on  the*-— " 
Horse-shoe  —  Ships  sent  over  the  Fallsi-^Animals  on  i 
board 76 

CHAPTER  XI. 

First  and  last  navigator  of  the  Rapids — Rescue  of  Chap- 
in — Of  Allen — Of  property  from  canal  boat — Takes  the 
Maid  of  the  Mist  through  the  Whirlpool — Descrip- 
tion of  the  voyage — His  companions — -Effect  upon  Rob- 
inson—  Biographical  notice — His  body  mouldering  in 
an  unmarked  grave — The  heroines  of  Lonestone  and 
Newport,  Grace  Darling  and  Ida  Lewis 88 

CHAPTER  XII. 


Fisher  and  bear  in  canoe 
ice — Early   farming;   on 


-Frightful  experience  in  the 
^  V...  the  Niagara — Fruit  growing 
— Original  forest— Testimony  of  the  trees — First  Ho- 
tel— International — General  Whitney — Cataract  House 
— Distinguished  visitors  —  Carriage  road  down  the 
Canada  bank — Pavilion — Ontario  House — Clifton 
House — Museum — Table  and  Termination  Rocks — 
Burning  Spring — Lundy's  Lane^==^attle — Anecdotes. .   U99 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

Incidents — Fall  of  Table  Rock — Remarkable  phenom- 
enon in  river — Consequences — Driving  and  lumbering 
on  the  Rapids — Capture  of  a  large  turtle — Points  of 
Compass — First  view  of  Falls — Disappointment — Fall, 
seen  from  below — Lurir  bow — Golden  spray — Gull  — 
Island  and  gulls — Highest  water  ever  known — Perform- 
ance of  a  hshhawk — Of  an  eagle — Hermit  of  the  Falls./JiO' 


^m 


VIU 


Contents, 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


PAGE. 


Avery  on  the  log — Young  man  and  girl  over  the  Falls —  ' 
Death  of  Miss  Rugg— Singular  Monument— Competi- 
tion   for   business    stand — Swans — Eagles— Crows- 
Ducks  over  the  Falls — Dogs  go  over  and  live — Reason 
why — Water  cones i?i 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Niagara  and  Bridal  Tourists — Anecdotes — Bridges  to  the 
Moss  Islands — Railway  at  the  Ferry — Persons  over 
the  Falls — Other  accidents — First  Suspension  Bridge 
— Railway  Suspension  Bridge — Mr.  Charles  EUet — 
Mr.  John  E.  Robeling — Extraordinary  motion  of  Bridge 
— De  Veaux  College — Lewiston  Suspension  Bridge — 
Suspension  Bridge  at  the  Falls, 1 29 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

Blondin — Effect  of  his  "ascensions" — Prince  of  Wales — 
His  visit  to  American  side — Escort  of  boys — Testing 
his  broad-cloth — Grand  illumination  of  the  Falls — 
Steamer  Caroline — Workshops  and  rubbish  along  the 
banks — Time  of  recession  of  the  Falls 1 44 

CHAPTER  XVII. 


Poetry — Table  Rock  albums — Light  literature — More  se- 
rious efforts— Colonel  Porter-  Willis  G.  Clark — Lord 
Morpeth— M.  F.  Tupper— A.  S.  Ridgely— J.  G.  C. 
Brainard 153 


y^ 


r 


PREFACE. 


.  I 


J 


in 


AJ/THOUCiH  every  ])lace  which  has  been  the 
liome  of  human  beings  has  a  history  more  or 
less  interesting  and  more  or  less  known,  yet  it  may 
be  doubted  whether  any  ])lace  on  the  globe  so  famous 
as  Niagara  is  so  little  known  (if  the  Milesianism  may 
be  allowed)  in  reference  to  what  may  be  called  its 
individual  history.  To  supply  that  deficiency  is  the 
main  object  of  this  work. 

Tl'.e  writer,  having  resided  in  the  village  of  Niagara 
Falls  nearly  a  third   of  a  century,  has  had   the  oppor- 
tunity to  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  local- 
ity, and  to    study  it  with  constantly  increasing  interest 
and  admiration.     It  is   like  old   wine   and   old  friends. 
It  never  jmlls    or   wearies ;    never    provokes    or    disap- 
points.    Like  a  beautiful  and  true,  an  excellent  and  ad- 
mirable mistress,  the  faithful  lover  may  return  to  it  with 
ever  new  delight,  ever  growing  affection.     It  will  humor 
and  minister  to  all  his  better  thoughts  and  aspirations, 
reprove  and  repress  all  his  baser  appetites  and  passions. 

It  is  a  humanizer  in  many  ways.     It  is   so    great,  so 

B 


X  Preface.  , 

grand,  so  glorious,  that,  while  looking  at  it,  the  small 
things  of  men  and  the  world  are  revulsed  and  forgotten., 
and  the  soul  like  its  spray  released  from  its  ponder- 
ables, mounts  heavenward. 

Long  observation  enables  the  writer  to  ofter  some 
new  suggestions  in  regard  to  the  Geological  age  of  the 
Falls,  their  retrocession,  and  the  causes  which  have 
been  potent  in  producing  it  ;  and  also  to  demonstrate 
tiiC  existence  of  a  barrier  or  dam  that  was  once  the 
shore  of  an  immense  fresh  water  sea,  ^\•hich  reached, 
from  Niagara  to  Lake  Michigan,  and  emptied  its  waters 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Whoever  undertakes  to  write  comprehensively  on  this 
subject,  will  soon  become  aware  of  the  weakness  of 
exclamation  points  and  adjectives,  and  the  almost  irre- 
sistible temptation  to  indulge  in  a  style  of  composition 
which  he  cannot  maintam,  and  should  not  if  he  could. 
So  far  as  the  writer,  yielding  to  th«.  inspiration  of  his 
theme  and  in  opposition  to  all  resolutions  to  the  con 
trary,  may  have  trespai-sed  in  this  direction,  he  bares 
and  bows  his  head  to  the  severest  treatment  that  the 
critic  may  adopt.  His  labor  has  been  one  of  love,  and 
in  giving  its  results  to  the  public  he  regrets  that  it  is. 
not  more  worthy  of  the  subject. 


J 


UPiJJlllJIII.^^., 


Preface. 


XI 


As  it  is  hoped  that  the  work  may  be  useful  to  future 
visitors  to  the  Falls,  and  also  possess  some  interest  for 
those  who  have  seen  them  before,  it  seemed  desirable 
to  avoid  the  introduction  of  notes  and  the  citation  of 
authorities.  For  this  reason  several  paragraphs  are 
placed  in  the  text  which  would  otherwise  have  been 
introduced  in  notes.  This  is  especially  true  in  the 
chapter  of  local  history,  which  will  interest  the  local 
more  than  the  general  reader. 

The  writer  is  especially  indebted  to  the  Hon.  Orsa- 
mus  H.  Marshall,  of  Buffalo,  for  a  copy  of  his  admi- 
rable '•  Historical  Sketches,"'  and  for  access  to  his  unri- 
valled Library  of  American  History.  The  Documentary 
History  and  Colonial  Documents  of  the  State  of  New 
York;  "  The  Relations  of  the  Jesuits;"  the  works  of 
other  early  French  missionaries,  travelers,  and  adven- 
turers, made  charmingly  familiar  to  the  public — as  wel' 
as  their  own  writings — by  the  con  amore  and  indefat- 
igable labors  of  Shea  and  Parkman,  have  all  helped  to 
make  the  writers  task  an  easy  and  agreeable  one. 
Scholars,  who  may  wish  to  do  so,  will  easily  verify  all 
the  facts  he  has  stated,  except  such  as  are  the  result 
of  his  own  observation.  He  hopes  it  is  unnecessary 
to    state   that,   although  certain   names   and   places  are 


\ 


XII 


Preface. 


k 


favorably  mentioned,   no  '*  arrangement "   whatever  has 
been  made  with  any  person  or  parties. 

The  greater  part  of  the  historical  narrative  was  read 
before  the  Buffalo  Historical  Society,  in  February,  1871; 
and  the  geological  portion,  with  some  modifications, 
before  the  American  Association  for  the  Advancement 
of  Science,  at  Indianapolis^  in  August  of  the  same 
year. 


Niagara  Falls,  N.Y., 
May  1st,  1872. 


mmimmmmmmmmmmmmmti'i/silit 


PART    FIRST. 


CHAPTER  I. 


4i 


ir 


^ 


HISTORY. 

First  discovery  of  the  country — Artillery  and  the  sword  pre- 
cursors of  the  Cross — The  Cabots — Portuguese — Gasper 
Cortoreal — First  French  expedition — Verrezanna — Second 
F'rench  expedition — Jacques  Cartier— Size  of  his  vessels — 
Modern  yachts— Cartier's  second  expedition— First  hears 
of  the  great  Cataract — Champlain— Father  Ragueneau— 

•  Father  Hennepin's  rirst  and  second  visits  to  the  Falls- 
Carriage  drive  under  the  American  Falls -Rattlesnakes- 
Professor  Kalm. 

Ni/V  long  after  the  Spanish  settlement  in  Florida 
and  the  EngHsh  settlement  in  Virginia,  but  before 
the  Puritans  had  said  their  prayers  on  Plymouth  Rock 
and  made  the  adjacent  wilderness  vocal  with  their  nasal 
harmonies,  the  monks  of  St.  Francis,  pioneered  by  a 
French  adventurer,  had  carried  the  Cross  into  the  territory 
of  the  savage  Htirons  and  had  preached  its  gospel  of  peace  \. 
and  chanted  its  sacred  anthems  in  forests  which  had  there- 
tofore been  more  familiar  with  the  cries  of  wild  beasts 
and  the  war-whoop  of  the  Indian.  In  that  sign— of  the 
Cross — a  continent  was  conquered. 

Digressively,  we  may  be  permitted  here  to  note  the 


M 


Niagara. 


fact  that  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable  that  that  religion 
whose  gospel  is  love  and  peace  should  so  generally  make 
its  conquests  and  be  carried  into  new  regions  through  the 
instrumentalities  of  a  system  whose  law  and  gospel  both 
are  hatred  and  strife  ;  that  the  sword  should  be  the  pre- 
cursor of  the  Cross,  and  that  the  heavy  ordnance  of  the 
artillerist  should  open  the  way  for  the  divine  ordinances  of 
(jod.  And  although  the  French  missionaries  made  no 
use  of  this  last  carnal  Aveapon,  still  the  soldier  and  the 
priest  marched  abreast,  and  ten  of  the  former  were  demor- 
alised, and  ten  heathens  slain,  that  the  latter  might  make 
one  slippery  convert  to  the  Cross.  And  now  in  all  the  wide 
empire  which  they  once  owned  and  occupied,  not  a  single 
congregation  of  the  dusky  race,  nor  hardly  a  single  indivi- 
dual Christian  remains  to  bear  witness  to  the  heroic  labor 
and  ardent  zeal  of  the  Franciscan  monk  or  Jesuit  priest. 
Nevertheless  a  good  work  was  done  and  the  good  work  </ 
goes  on.  The  Church,  which  is  the  inheritor  of  the  eternal 
promises,  has  enlarged  her  borders  and  strengthened  her 
stakes ;  and,  in  the  final  glories  of  her  millenial  day,  the 
dark  beginnings  of  her  militant  career  may  be  forgiven 
and  forgotten. 

From  Newfoundland  to  Virginia,  the  coasts  and  the  is- 
lands of  the  re-discovered  continent  were  explored  by  the 
Cabots  in  1497,  and  were  re-visited  by  the  same  explorers 
the  following  year.  In  1501  occurred  the  Portuguese  ex- 
pedition, under  Gasper  Cortoreal,  the  most  notable  feature 
of  which  was  tiiefact  that  its  leader,  by  capturing  fifty  In- 
dians whom  he  carried  to  Portugal  and  sold  into  slavery, 
committed  a  crime  which,  very  logically,  proved  to  be  the 


'0,  ;i 


History. 


15 


1 


foundation  of  the  cruel  hostility  and  treachery  which,  for 
so  long  a  period,  characterised  the  intercourse  of  the  In- 
dian with  the  white  man.  In  1525  France  sent  out  her 
first  transatlantic  expedition,  under  Verrezanna.  He  found 
the  natives  from  Cape  Fear  River  to  the  New  England 
coast  friendly  and  peaceful.  But  on  rei'ching  the  coasts 
and  islands  near  Newfoundland  he  encountered  the  jea- 
lousy and  hostility  which  were  the  natural  results  of  the 
outrages  perpetrated  by  his  Portuguese  predecessor.  In 
1 534,  Jacques  Cartier,  a  shrewd,  enterprising,  and  adven- 
turous sailor,  made  his  first  voyage  accross  the  Atlantic, 
touching  at  Newfoundland,  and  exploring  the  coast  to  the 
west  and  south  of  it.  Great  interest  has  recently  (1867) 
been  manifested,  we  may  remark  parenthetically,  in  the 
voyage  across  the  Atlantic  of  three  yachts — the  Fleetwing, 
the  Henrietta.,  and  the  Vista — in  the  remarkably  quick 
time  of  fourteen  days,  and  great  credit  is  awarded  to  their 
succ-essful  navigators.  Each  of  these  vessels  had  a  capa- 
city of  more  than  200  tons  burden.  The  two  vessels  of 
Cartier,  called  ships  by  the  historians  of  the  period,  were 
of  only  sixty  tons  burden.  The  time  at  which  the  latter 
and  in  which  the  former  sailed  makes  their  voyages 
remarkable. 

On  the  return  of  Cartier  to  France,  so  favorable  was 
his  report  of  the  results  of  the  expedition,  that  Francis 
First  commissioned  him,  the  year  following,  for  another 
voyage,  and  in  May,  1535,  after  impressive  religious  cere- 
monies and  receiving  the  benediction  of  a  bishop,  he 
sailed  with  three  vessels  thoroughly  equipped.  The  record 
of  this  second  voyage  of  Cartier,  by  Lescarbot,  contains 


I 


i6 


Niagara. 


the  first  historical  notice  of  the  Cataract  at  Niagara.  The 
navigator,  in  answer  to  his  inquiries  concerning  the  source 
of  the  St.  Lawrence,  "  was  told  that,  after  ascending  many 
leagues  among  rapids  and  waterfalls,  he  would  reach  a 
lake  one  hundred  and  forty  or  fifty  leagues  broad,  at  the 
western  extremity  of  which  the  waters  are  wholesome  and 
winters  mild  \  that  a  river  emptied  into  it  from  the 
south,  which  had  its  source  in  the  country  of  the  Iro- 
quois \  that  beyond  the  lake  he  would  find  a  cataract  and 
portage,  then  another  lake  about  equal  to  the  former 
which  they  had  never  explored." 

In  1603,  a  company  of  merchants  in  Rouen  obtained 
the  neccessary  authority  for  a  new  expedition  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  which  they  placed  under  the  direction  of 
Samuel  Champlain,  an  accomplished  mariner,  and  able, 
discreet  and  resolute  commander.  On  a  map  attached 
to  his  voyages,  published  in  16 13,  he  indicated  the  posi- 
tion of  the  cataract,  calling  it  merely  a  waterfall,  {Saut 
d^eau\  and  describing  it  as  being  "  so  very  high  that  many 
kinds  of  fish  are  stunned  in  its  descent."  It  does  not  ap- 
pear by  the  record  that  he  ever  saw  it. 

During  the  sixty  years  that  elapsed  between  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  French  settlements  by  Champlain,  and 
the  expedition  of  La  Salle  and  Hennepin,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  the  great  Fall  was  repeatedly  visited  by 
French  traders  and  adventurers.  In  1648,  the  Jesuit 
father,  Ragueneau,  in  a  letter  to  the  Superior  of  the  Mis- 
sion, at  Paris,  says,  "  north  of  the  Fries  is  a  great  lake, 
about  two  hundred  leagues  in  circumference,  called  Erie, 
formed  by  the  discharge  of  the  mer-douce  or  Lake  Huron, 


History. 


17 


i 


i 


and  which  falls  into  a  third  lake,  called  Ontario,  over  a 
cataract  of  frightful  height/'" 

The  first  description  of  it,  however,  secured  to  us  by 
the  preservative  power  of  type,  is  that  of  Father  Hen- 
nepin, so  well  known  to  those  conversant  with  our  early 
history.  He  saw  it  for  the  first  time  in  the  \yinter  of 
1678-9,  and  his  exaggerated  account  of  it  is  accompanied 
by  a  sketch  which  in  its  principal  features  is  undoubtedly 
correct,  though  its  perspective  and  proportions  are 
quite  otherwise.  He  says,  "  Betwixt  the  lakes  Ontario 
and  Erie  there  is  a  vast  and  prodigious  cadence  of  water 
which  falls  down  after  a  surprising  and  astonishing 
manner,  insomuch  that  the  universe  does  not  afford  its 
parallel.  'Tis  true  that  Italy  and  Switzerland  boast  of 
some  such  things,  but  we  may  well  say  they  are  sorry 
patterns  when  compared  with  this  of  which  we  now  speak. 
*  *  '•''■  ■'-  It  [the  river]  is  so  rapid  above  the  de- 
scent, that  it  violently  hurries  dovva  the  wild  beasts  while 
endeavouring  to  pass  it,  *  *  *  they  not  being  able 
to  withstand  the  force  of  its  current,  which  inevitably 
casts  them  headlong  above  six  hundred  feet  high.  This 
wonderful  downfall  is  composed  of  two  great  cross 
streams  of  water  and  two  falls,  with  an  isle  sloping  along 
the  middle  of  it.  The  waters  which  fall  from  this  horrible 
precipice  do  foam  and  boil  after  the  most  hideous  manner 
imaginable,  making  an  outrageous  noise,  more  terrible 
than  that  of  thunder  ;  for  when  the  wind  blows  out  of  the 
south  their  dismal  roaring  may  be  heard  more  than  fif- 
teen leagues  off. 

"  The  river  iViagara  having  thrown  itself  down  this  in- 


i8 


Niagara. 


credible  precipice,  continues  its  impetuous  course  for  two 
leagues  together  to  the  great  rock,  above  mentioned  [in 
another  chapter  as  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain 
at  Lewiston],  with  an  inexpressible  rapidity.  *  *  * 
From  the  great  Fall  unto  this  rock,  which  is  to  the  west 
of  the  river,  the  two  brinks  of  it  are  so  prodigious  high, 
that  it  would  make  one  tremble  to  look  steadily  upon 
the  water  rolling  along  with  a  rapidity  not  to  be  ima- 
gined." 

On  his  return  from  the  west,  in  the  summer  of  1681, 
the  Father  informs  us  that  he  "  spent  half  a  day  in  con- 
sidering the  wonders  of  that  prodigious  cascade."  Re- 
ferring to  the  spray,  he  says  :  "  The  rebounding  of  these 
waters  is  so  great,  that  a  sort  of  cloud  arises  from  the 
foam  of  it  which  is  seen  hanging  over  this  abyss  even  at 
noon-day."  Of  the  river,  he  says,  "  From  the  mouth  of 
Lake  Erie  to  the  Falls  are  reckoned  six  leagues.  *  *  * 
The  lands  which  lie  on  both  sides  of  it  to  the  east  and 
west  are  all  level  from  the  Lake  Erie  to  the  great  Fall," 
At  the  end  of  the  six  leagues  "  it  meets  with  a  small 
sloping  island,  about  half  a  quarter  of  a  league  long  and 
near  three  hundred  feet  broad,  as  well  as  one  can  guess 
by  the  eye.  From  the  end  then  of  this  island  it  is  that 
these  two  great  falls  of  water,  as  also  the  third,  throw 
themselves,  after  a  most  surprising  manner,  down  into 
the  dreadful  gulph,  six  hundred  feet  and  more  in  depth.'' 
On  the  Canada  side,  he  says  :  "  One  may  go  down  as  far 
as  the  bottom  of  this  terrible  gulph.  The  author  of  this 
discovery  was  down  there,  the  more  narrowly  to  observe 
the  fall  of  these  prodigious  cascades.     From  hence  we 


1 


History. 


'9 


could  discover  a  spot  of  ground  which  lay  under  the  fall 
of  water  which  is  to  the  east  [American  Fall]  big  enough 
for  four  coaches  to  drive  abreast  without  being  wet  ;  but 
because  the  ground  •■^  *  *  a^  where  the  first  fall 
empties  itself  into  the  gulph  is  very  steep  and  almost  per- 
pendicular, it  is  impossible  for  a  man  to  get  down  on  that 
side,  into  the  place  where  the  four  coaches  may  go 
abreast,  or  to  make  his  way  through  such  a  quantity  ot 
water  as  falls  toward  the  gu)ph,  so  that  it  is  very  probable 
that  to  this  dry  place  it  is  that  the  rattlesnakes  retire,  by 
certain  passages  which  they  tind  underground." 

Finding  no  Indians  living  at  the  Falls,  he  suggests  a 
probable  reason  therefor  :  "I  have  often  heard  talk  of 
the  Cataracts  of  the  Nile,  which  make  people  deaf  that 
live  near  them.  I  know  not  if  the  Iroquois  who  formerly 
inhabited  near  this  fall  *  *  *  *  withdrew  them- 
selves from  its  neighborhood  lest  they  should  likewise 
become  deaf,  or  out  of  the  continual  fear  they  were  in  of 
the  rattlesnakes,  which  are  very  common  in  this  place. 
if  *  *  #  jjg  j|.  .^g  j(-  ^yjj],^  these  dangerous  creatures 
are  to  be  met  with  as  far  as  the  Lake  Frontenac  [Ontario], 
on  the  south  side  ;  and  it  is  reasonable  to  presume 
that  the  horrid  noise  of  the  Fall,  and  the  fear  of  these 
poisonous  serpents  might  oblige  the  savages  to  seek  out 
a  more  commodious  habitation.'  In  the  view  of  the 
Falls  accompanying  his  description,  a  large  rock  is  repre- 
sented as  hanging  on  the  edge  of  the  Table  rock,  and 
dividing  the  water  into  two  channels,  the  one  on  the 
north  side  being  small  and  falling  to  the  west.  The  rock 
and  the  small  cascade  are  mentioned  by  Kalm,  a  Swedish 


i 


20 


Niagara. 


naturalist,  who  visited  the  Falls  in  1750,  as  having  dis- 
appeared a  few  years  before  that  date. 


I    'I 


CHAPTER  II. 

HISTORY. 

1687 — Baron  La  Hontan— Description  of  the  Falls  -  Beasts 
and  fish  drawn  over  them — Taken  out  by  Indians — Their 
canoes  precede  the  white  man's  skiff  and  yawl — 1721 — M. 
Charlevoix — Letter  to  Madame  Maintenon — Number  of 
Falls —  Geological  indications  —  Great  projection  of  the 
rock — Cave  of  the  Winds — Passing  through  it — Exhilarat- 


mg  trip- 


Rainbows. 


EVEN  more  exaggerated  than  Father  Hennepin's  is 
the  next  account  of  the  F'alls,  which  has  come 
down  to  us,  and  which  was  written  by  the  Baron  La 
Hontan,  in  the  autumn  of  1687.  Fear  of  an  attack  from 
the  Iroquois,  the  relentless  enemies  of  the  French,  made 
his  visit  .short  and  unsatisfactory.  He  says  :  "  As  for  the 
water-fall  of  Niagara,  'tis  seven  or  eight  hundred  feet 
high,  and  half  a  league  wide.  Towards  the  middle  of  it 
we  descry  an  island,  that  leans  towards  the  precipice, 
as  if  it  were  ready  to  fall."  Concerning  the  beasts  and 
fish  drawn  over  the  precipice,  he  says  they  "  serve  for 
food  "  for  the  Iroquois,  who  "  take  'em  out  of  the  water 
with  their  canoes  ;"  and  also  that  "  between  the  surface  of 
the  water,  that  shelves  off  prodigiously,  and  the  foot  of 


History 


21 


the  precipice,  three  men  may  cross  in  abreast,  without 
further  damage  than  a  si)rinkhng  of  some  few  drops  of 
water,"  Father  Hennepin,  it  will  be  remembered,  makes 
this  sj)ace  broad  enough  for  four  coaches,  instead  of  three 
men. 

From  the  Baron's  declaration  as  to  the  manner  in  which 
the  Indians  captured  the  game  which  went  over  the  Flails, 
it  would  seem  that  on  the  ferry  at  tlieir  foot,  as  in  all 
others  in  this  region,  the  bark  canoe  of  the  Indian  was 
the  precursor  of  the  white  man's  skiff  and  yawl.  And  the 
timid  traveller  of  the  present  day,  who  hesitates  about 
crossing  in  this  latter  craft,  will  })robably  ])ronouncc  tlie 
Indian  (juite  foolhardy  for  venturing  on  those  turbulent 
waters  in  his  light  canoe,  whereas,  in  skilful  hands,  it  is 
peculiarly  fitted  for  such  navigation. 

A  more  correct  estimate  of  the  Cataract  than  either  of 
the  preceding,  is  that  of  M.  Charlevoix,  sent  to  Madame 
Maintenon,  in  1721.  After  referring  to  the  inaccurate 
accounts  of  Hennepin  and  l.a  Hontan,  he  says  :  "  For  my 
own  part,  after  having  examined  it  on  all  sides,  where  it 
could  be  viewed  to  the  greatest  advantage,  I  am  inclined 
to  think  we  cannot  allow  it  [the  height]  less  than  one 
hundred  and  forty  or  fifty  feet."  As  to  its  figure,  "it  is 
in  the  shape  of  a  horse-shoe,  and  it  is  about  four  hundred 
paces  in  circumference.  It  is  divided  in  two  exactly  in 
the  centre  by  a  very  narrow  island,  half  a  quarter  of  a 
league  long."  In  relation  to  the  noise  of  the  falling  water, 
he  says :  "  You  can  scarce  hear  it  at  M.  de  Joncaire's 
[Fort  Schlosser],  and  what  you  hear  in  this  place  [Lewis- 
ton]  may  possibly  be  that  of  the  whirlpools,  caused  by 


22 


Niagara. 


the  rocks  whicli  fill  up   the  bed  of  the  river  as    far  as 

this." 

Neither  the  Baron  La  Hontaii  nor  M.  Charlevoi> 
si)eak  of  the  number  of  water-fliUs.  I'.ut  Father  Henne- 
pin, it  will  be  remembered,  mentions  three,  two  of  which 
were  to  the  south  and  west  of  Ooat  Island.  And  the 
Rev.  Abbo  Piajuet,  who  visited  the  place  in  i  751,  seventy 
years  after  Father  Hennepin,  says  :  [Documentary  His- 
tory, I.,  p.  283]  ''This  Cascade  is  as  prodigious  by  its 
height  and  the  (juantity  of  water  which  falls  there,  as  by 
the  variety  of  its  falls,  which  are  to  the  number  of  six 
principal  ones  divided  by  a  small  island,  leaving  three 
to  the  north  and  three  to  the  south.  They  produce 
of  themselves  a  singular  symmetry  and  wonderful 
effect.'" 

The  geological  indications  are  that  (ioat  Island  once 
embraced  all  the  small  islands  lying  near  it,  and  also  that 
it  covered  the  whole  of  the  rocky  bar  which  stretches  up 
stream  some  hundred  and  fifty  rods  above  the  head  of  the 
present  island.  At  that  period,  from  the  depressions  now 
visible  in  the  rocky  bed  of  the  river,  it  would  seem  pro- 
bable that  the  water  cut  channels  through  the  modern  drift 
corresponding  with  these  depressions.  In  that  case  there 
would  then  have  been  a  third  fall  in  the  American  chan- 
nel, north  of  Goat  Island,  lying  between  Luna  Island  and 
a  small  island  then  lying  just  south  of  the  Little  Horseshoe, 
and  stretching  up  towards  Chapin's  Island.  On  the  south 
side  of  Goat  Island,  there  would  have  been  a  fall  between 
its  southern  shore  and  an  island  near  to  and  beyond  the 
stone  tower  now  standing  in  the  channel. 


History. 


23 


It  is  evident  from  the  descriptions  of  both  Father  Hen 
nepin  and  the  Baron  La  Hontan,  that  the  upper  stratum 
of  rock  over  which  the  water  falls,  must  have  projected 
beyond  the  face  of  the  rock  below  much  further  than  it 
now  does.  This  supposition  is  confirmed  by  the  fact, 
that  the  underlying  shale  here  curves  upward  higher  than 
at  any  other  point  above  the  whirlpool.  The  large 
masses  of  fallen  rock  lying  at  the  foot  of  the  American 
Fall,  are  evidence  of  the  same  fact.  Travelers  still  go  be- 
hind the  sheet  on  the  Canada  side,  and  into  and  through 
the  Cave  of  the  Winds,  on  the  American  side.  I>ut  they 
do  not  expect  to  keep  dry  in  so  doing,  nor  to  sun  them- 
selves on  the  rocks  below,  like  the  rattlesnakes  of  former 
days.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  more  exciting  nor  exhil- 
arating excursion  to  be  made  at  the  Falls  than  that 
through  the  Cave  of  the  Winds.  It  is  a  rich  experience, 
both  mental  and  physical. 

Nowhere  else  are  the  prismatic  hues  exhibited  in  such 
wonderful  variety,  nor  in  such  surpassing  brilliancy  and 
beauty.  And  although  a  rainbow  is  not  a  spraybow,  it 
may  be  admitted  that  a  spraybow  is  a  rainbow,  formed  of 
drops  of  water,  large  or  small.  So  here  rainbow  dust 
and  shattered  rainbows  are  scattered  around  ;  rainbow 
bars  and  arches,  horizontal  and  perpendicular,  are  flash- 
ing and  forming,  breaking  and  re-forming,  dancing  and 
floating  around  and  above  the  visitor  in  the  most  fantastic 
and  delightful  confusion  of  form  and  effect.  And  if  his 
fancy  prompts  him,  he  may  arrange  himself  as  a  portrait, 
at  half  or  full  length,  in  an  annular  bow.  The  enamored 
Strephon   may  literally  place   his  charming  Delia   in  a 


24 


Niagara. 


living,  sparkling  rainbow-frame,  flecked  all  over  with 
diamonds  and  pearls ;  albeit  the  uncouth  bathing  dress 
would  be  in  striking  contrast  with  the  fairj^-like  texture 
and  beauty  of  the  setting. 

The  trip  furnishes  the  douche,  the  shower,  the  sitz  and 
every  other  kind  of  bath  except  the  plunge.  The  water 
does  enough  of  this  to  satisfy  perfectly  the  most  aquatic 
temperament.  As  a  lung  expander,  it  is  unrivaled.  And 
no  soporific  or  anodyne  can  produce  more  delightful  sen- 
sations or  emotions  ihan  the  traveler  experiences  when 
the  "reaction"  occurs.  He  goes  to  sleep  with  a  rainbow 
in  his  head,  and  one  around  it,  and  the  dreamy  sound  of 
many  waters  is  transformed  into  the  music  of  the  spheres. 

When  an  oriental  parlor,  with  hammocks  and  lounges 
for  repose,  is  added  to  the  present  guide  and  dress-house, 
this  trip  will  form  one  of  the  most  attractive  features  of 
the  place. 


CHAPTER   III. 


HISTORY. 

The  name  Niagara- -Baron  La  Hoiuan- -Beautiful  language 
of  the  Hurons — Jesuit  Missionaries  reach  Niagara  in  1626 
—Oldest  of  Indian  names  -Splendid  territory  to  which  it 
belonged— Description  of  the  river— Immense  drainage. 

ALL  reference  to  the  nameoi  this  locality  has  been  pur- 
posely deferred  until  we  should  have  become  ac- 
quainted with  its   physical  characteristics.      There  is  in 


History 


25 


ige 
it 


mr- 

ac- 


m 


some  words  a  mystic  power  which  it  is  not  easy  to  analyze 
or  define,  but  which  fascinates  the  ear  even  of  those  who 
do  not  understand  their  meaning.  The  very  sound  of 
them  as  they  are  enunciated  by  the  human  voice,  touches 
a  chord  to  which  every  spirit  instinctively  responds.  So 
it  is  with  the  name  of  the  great  Cataract.  No  one  can 
hear  it  correctly  pronounced  without  being  charmed  with 
its  rhythmical  beauty,  nor  without  feeling  confident  of  its 
poetical  aptness  and  significance  in  its  original  dialect. 

And  although  we  have  no  means  of  determining  the 
correctness,  or  otherwise,  of  any  of  the  fanciful  or  po- 
etical interpretations  which  have  been  given  of  the  word, 
still  we  cannot  doubt  that  it  must  have  had  a  peculiar 
force  and  justness  with  those  who  first  applied  it.  Bare  a 
La  Hontan,  who  spent  several  years  among  the  Indians, 
noticed  the  remarkable  fact  concerning  their  language 
that  it  had  no  labials.  "  Nevertheless,"  he  says,  "  the 
language  of  the  Hurons  appears  very  beautiful,  and  the 
sound  of  it  perfectly  charming,  although,  in  speaking  it, 
they  never  close  their  lips." 

The  most  voluminous,  and  among  the  earliest  existing, 
records  connected  with  the  River  St.   Lawrence,  and  the 
great  lakes  which  it  drains,  are  the  well-known  "  Relations 
of  the  Jesuits,"  so  called,  comprising  a  yearly  account  of 
the   labors   of   the  Missionary  Fathers  sent  out  by  the 
College  at  Paris   to  christianise  the  Indians.     In    161 5, 
they  established  their  Mission  at  Quebec,  and  from  thence 
extended    their   operations    westward.       In    1626,    they 
reached  the  large  and  powerful  tribe  of  Indians  which  oc- 
cupied the  splendid  domain  which  may  be  described  with 


?     i 


\     \ 


26 


Niagara. 


proximate  accuracy,  as  bounded  l)y  a  line  commencing 
at  a  point  on  the  southerly  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  about 
thirty  miles  west  of  the  mouth  of  the  Gennesee  river, 
and  running  thence  parallel  to  that  river  to  a  point  due 
west  from  Avon  ;  thence  nearly  due  west  to  Buffalo  : 
thence  along  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Erie  to  the  Detroit 
river  \  thence  up  that  river  to  a  point  directly  west  from 
the  west  end  of  Lake  ( )ntario  ;  thence  east  to  that  lake, 
and  finally  along  the  southern  shore  of  it  to  the  place  of 
beginning. 

The  oldest  and  most  notable  name  in  ail  this  territory 
is  Niagara,  as  would  naturally  be  inferred,  when  we  con- 
sider the  varied  and  wonderful  features  of  the  mighty  river 
which  flows  across  it.  Taking  a  hurried  leave  of  Lake 
Erie  with  a  joyous  bound,  its  clear  waters  gradually 
spread  themselves  out  in  a  broad,  bright  channel,  over  a 
plain,  open  country,  having  a  slight  declivity,  just  sufli- 
cient  to  make  a  gentle  current,  thereby  adding  the  living 
beauty  and  force  of  motion  to  the  broad  expanse  of  a  lake- 
like surface,  that  surface  itself  diversified  and  relieved, 
by  the  pleasant  islands,  large  and  small,  which  are  scat- 
tered over  it.  Eddying  into  every  quiet  bay  ;  coquetting 
with  every  salient  angle  ;  moving  to  the  melody  of  its  own 
murmurs,  serenely  and  pleasantly  it  flows  on. 

But  after  a  time  this  holiday  journey  is  interrupted 
A  fearful  change  takes  place.  The  careless  waters  are 
hurried  down  a  long  and  sharp  descent,  over  the  rough, 
denuded,  boulder-studded  bed-rock  of  the  stream.  Break- 
ing and  bounding  \  surging  and  resurging ;  flashing  and 
foaming  ;  rushing  fiercely  upon  some  huge  boulder,  re 


i 


History. 


27 


I   t 


coiling  an  instant,  then  madly  leaping  entirely  over  it ; 
rushing  on  to  others  huger  still,  then  breaking  wildly 
around  them  and  hurrying  onward  until  the  troubled 
waters,  culminating  in  their  sublimest  aspect,  are  plunged 
sheer  downward  in  the  grandest  cataract  on  the  globe. 

And  now  the  scene  and  the  effect  it  produces  on  the 
beholder  both  change.  The  rapids  are  beautiful ;  the 
falls  are  grand  ;  those  are  exhilarating,  these  are  inspiring  ; 
those  we  can  look  upon  standing  or  walking  ;  these  we 
gaze  upon  wrapt  and  still ;  with  those  our  thoughts  go 
out  in  shout  and  song  :  with  these  in  aspiration  and  praise  ; 
those  are  noi.sy,  turbulent,  fickle  :  these  are  calm,  resist- 
less, inexorable. 

After  the  water  has  made  the  tinal  plunge  over  the  pre- 
cipice the  cataract  acquires  its  most  impressive  and  en- 
chanting characteristics  ;  the  majestic  monotone,  the 
bow,  the  cloud,  which  is  its  vail  by  night,  its  crowning 
glory  and  beauty  by  day.  The  combinations  of  grandeur 
and  beauty  have  reached  their  climax — the  fall,  the 
foam,  the  voice,  the  spray,  the  incense,  the  bow.  Silence 
is  golden  here.  Speech  were  powerless  even  were  it  per- 
tinent. 

The  chasm  of  the  river  from  the  Falls  to  Lewiston  has 
been  sufficiently  described,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  sequel, 
in  treating  of  the  geology  of  the  district.  From  Lewiston 
to  Lake  Ontraio,  seven  miles,  the  waters  of  the  river  flow 
on  through  an  elevated  and  fertile  plain,  in  a  strong, 
calm,  majestic  current,  smiling  with  dimples  and  reversed 
in  occasional  eddies,  but  neither  broken  by  rapids  nor 
impeded  by  islands.     Finally  it   is  lost  in  the  lake  after 


2S 


Niagara. 


passing  an  immense  bar  formed  by  the  enormous  mass  of 
sedimentary  matter  carried  down  by  its  own  current. 
The  landscape,  as  seen  from  the  top  of  the  terrace  above 
Lewiston,  is  one  of  the  finest  and  most  extensive  which  can 
be  found  on  the  continent,  of  its  peculiar  character,  all  its 
features  being  such  only  as  appertain  to  a  broad,  cham- 
paign country. 

The  visitor  at  the  Niagara,  as  he  looks  at  the  Falls,  will 
have  a  profounder  appreciation  of  their  magnitude  by 
considering  that  it  requires  the  water  drainage  of  half  a 
continent  to  sustain  them,  and  that  the  remoter  springs, 
which  send  to  them  their  constant  tribute,  are  more  than 
two  thousand  miles  distant. 


CHAPTER  IV 


HISTORV. 


Niagara  a  tribal  name — Other  names  given  to  the  tribe,  and 
why— Father  Lalement's  letter— Niagaras  a  superior  race 
—Indian  language— Full  sound  of  vowels — Corrupt  abbre- 
viations—True pronunciation— End  of  French  rule  in  Ame- 
rica— United  States  and  Great  Britain  now  owners  of  Nia- 
gara. 

THE  name  Niagara  has  been  so  thoroughly  identified 
with  the  River  and  the  Falls  that  the  question, 
whether  it  was  also  the  name  of  an  Indian  nation  or  tribe 
has  been  quite  neglected.  It  is  proposed  now  to  give 
the  subject  some  consideration,  assuming,  at  once,  its  af- 


History. 


29 


firmative  to  be  true.  This,  it  is  believed,  we  shall  be 
justified  in  doing  by  every  principle  of  analogy  and  pro- 
bability. We  know  that  it  was  a  general  practice  of  the 
Indians  who  occupied  this  region  of  country,  so  abound- 
ing in  lakes  and  rivers,  to  give  the  name  of  the  nation 
or  tribe  to^  or  to  name  them  from^  some  of  the  most  pro- 
minent bodies  and  courses  of  water  found  in  their  terri- 
tory. Such  was  the  fact  with  the  Senecas,  Cayugas, 
Oneidas,  Onondagas,  and  Hurons,  the  tribal  name  of 
each  being  perpetuated  in  both  a  lake  and  river.  The 
warrior  tribe  of  the  Six  Nations,  having  no  noted  lake 
within  their  boundaries,  left  a  perpetual  memorial  of 
themselves  in  a  name  as  beautiful  as  the  stream  which 
bears  it,  and  every  traveler  along  the  Mohawk  is,  by  it, 
reminded  of  the  brave  nation  which  never  swerved  in  its 
fidelity  to  the  Anglo-Saxons. 

The  unwarlike  Kries  too,  though  finally  exterminated 
by  their  more  j)0werful  and  aggressive  neighbors,  the  Iro- 
(juois,  arc  still  remembered  in  the  lake  which  bears  their 
name. 

With  the  Niagaras  the  river  and  the  cataract  were  the 
most  notable  and  impressive  features  of  their  territory. 
Their  principal  village  bore  the  same  name  ;  and  when  we 
recall  the  proverbial  vanity  of  the  race,  we  can  hardly 
doubt  that  this  must  also  have  been  their  tribal  name. 
That  it  should  have  been  perpetuated  in  reference  to  the 
village,  the  river  and  the  falls,  and  that  the  use  of  it,  in 
reference  to  the  tribe,  should  have  lapsed,  can  be  readily 
understood  when  we  recollect  that  they  had  two  substi- 
tutes for  the  latter.     One  of  these  substitutes  is  explained. 


f 


30 


Niagara. 


V^:      S 


at  page  70  of  the  "Relations"  of  1641,  in  a  passage 
which  the  writer  translates  as  follows:  "Our  Hurons 
call  the  Neuter  Nation  Attoimnderottks^  as  though  they 
would  say  a  people  of  a  little  different  language  :  for  as  to 
those  nations  who  speak  a  language  of  which  they  under- 
stand nothing,  they  call  them  Attoiiankes^  whatever  nation 
they  be  may,  or  as  though  they  spoke  of  strangers.  They 
of  the  Neuter  Nation  in  turn  and  for  the  same  reason  call 
our  Hurons  Attouandaronksy 

Thus  it  would  seem  that  this  was  a  mere  title  of  con- 
venience used  to  indicate  a  certain  fact,  namely,  a  differ- 
ence of  language.  The  other  substitute  by  which  the  na- 
tion was  best  known  among  their  white  brethren  will  be 
understood  by  an  extract  from  a  letter  contained  in  the 
same  "Relation,"  and  written  from  St.  Mary's  Mission  on 
the  river  Severn,  by  Father  Lalement.  In  it  he  gives  an 
account  of  a  journey  made  by  the  Fathers  Jean  deBrebeuf 
and  Joseph  Marie  Chaumont  to  the  country  of  the  Neuter 
Nation,  as  the  Niagaras  were  called  by  the  Hurons  on 
the  north  and  the  Iroquois  on  the  south  of  them,  learn- 
ing it,  as  they  did,  from  the  French.  The  letter  says  : 
*'  Our  French,  who  first  discovered  this  people,  named 
them  the  Neuter  Nation,  and  not  without  reason,  for  their 
country  being  the  ordinary  passage  by  land,  between 
iome  of  the  Iroquois  nations  and  the  Hurons,  who  are 
sworn  enemies,  they  remained  at  peace  with  both  ;  so  that 
in  times  past,  the  Hurons  and  the  Iroquois  meeting  in  the 
same  wigwam  or  village  of  that  nation,  were  both  in  safety 
while  they  remained.  There  are  some  things  in  which 
they  differ  from  our  Hurons.      They  are  larger,  stronger, 


^ 


History. 


31 


-! 


and  better  formed.  They  also  entertain  a  great  affection 
for  the  dead.  *  '^  *  *  *  xhe  Sonontonheronons 
(Senecas),  one  of  the  Iroquois  nations  the  nearest  to  and 
most  dreaded  by  the  Hurons,  are  not  more  than  a  day's 
journey  distant  from  the  easternmost  village  of  the  Neuter 
Nation,  named  Onguiaahra  [Niagara],  of  the  same  name 
as  the  river." 

It  would  seem  then  that  this  name,  Neuter  Nation,  as 
applied  to  this  tribe,  was  an  appellation  used  merely  to 
indicate  a  peculiarity  of  its  location,  or  of  the  relation  in 
which  it  stood  to  the  hostile  tribes  living  to  the  north  and 
south  of  it.  The  Indians  were  not  philologists,  and  seem 
not  to  have  objected  to  the  names  applied  to  them,  nor 
to  have  criticised  the  erroneous  pronunciation  of  words 
of  their  own  dialects. 

In  the  extract  given  above,  the  name  of  our  river  first 
appears  in  type.  Its  orthography  will  be  noted  as  pe- 
culiar. It  is  one  of  forty  different  ways  of  spelling  the 
name,  thirty-nine  of  which  are  given  in  the  index  volume 
of  the  Colonial  History  of  New  York,  and  the  fortieth, 
the  most  pertinent  to  our  present  purpose,  in  Drake's 
*'  Book  of  the  Indians,"  seventh  edition.  Prefixed  to 
"  Book  First "  is  a  "  Table  of  the  principal  Tribes," 
in  which  we  find  the  following  : 

"  NiCARiAGAS,  once  about  Michilimakinak  ;  joined  the 
the  Iroquois  in  1723." 

M.  Charlevoix,  in  1642,  apparently  using  the  facts 
stated  in  Lalemont's  letter  of  the  preceding  year,  and 
quoting  also  a  portion  of  its  language,  says  :  "  A  people 
larger,  stronger,  and  better  formed  than  any  other  savages, 


I     \ 


T   '    .       I-^U 


32 


Niagara. 


and  who  lived  south  of  the  Huron  Country,  were  visited 
l)y  the  Jesuits,  who  preached  to  them  the  Kingdom  of 
God.  They  were  called  the  Neuter  Nation,  because  they 
took  no  part  in  the  wars  which  desolated  the  country. 
But  in  the  end  they  could  not  themselves  escape  entire 
destruction.  To  avoid  the  fury  of  the  Iroquois,  they 
finally  joined  them  against  the  Hurons,  but  gained  nothing 
by  the  union."  At  a  later  date,  he  says,  they  were  de- 
stroyed about  the  year  1643.  But  we  have  before  ob- 
served that  Father  Raugeneau  states,  that  their  destruc- 
tion occurred  in  165 1.  The  tribe  mentioned  by  Drake 
was  probably  a  remnant  who  escaped  in  the  final  over- 
throw of  their  nation  in  this  last-named  year,  and  sought 
refuge  atMacinaw,  among  the  Hurons,  who  had  previously 
retreated  to  this  almost  inaccessible  locality,  in  order,  also, 
to  escape  from  the  all-conquering  Iroquois.  After  the 
lapse  of  nearly  three  quarters  of  a  century,  when  the 
hostility  of  the  latter  had  subsided,  and  they  had  them- 
selves been  weakened  and  subdued  by  the  whites,  the 
wretched  remnant  of  the  Niagaras,  with  that  strong  love 
of  home  so  characteristic  of  the  Indian,  returned  to  their 
native  hunting  grounds,  where  they  remained  for  a  few 
years,  and  then  joined  their  conquerors  in  that  mournful 
procession  of  their  race  which  has  been  so  constantly 
forced  to  the  west  by  their  white  brothers. 

If  there  were  a  Nemesis  for  nations  as  well  as  for  indi- 
viduals, it  would  be  fearful  to  contemplate  the  time  when 
the  Anglo-Saxon  should  be  called  on  to  pay  the  "  long 
arrears  "  of  the  Indians'  "  bloody  debt."  Returning  to  the 
orthography  of  our  name,  we  find  on  Sanson's  map  of 


\ 


L 


History. 


\ 


Canada,  published  in  Paris  in  1657,  that  it  is  shortened 
into  "  Ongiara,"  and  on  Coronelli's  map  of  the  same  re- 
gion, published  in  Paris  in  1688,  it  crystalizes  into  Nia- 
gara. There  is  also  on  this  map  a  village  located  on  or 
near  the  site  of  Buffalo,  designated  as  follows :  "  Kah- 
kou-a-go-gah,  a  destroyed  nation.''  This  name  bears  a  closer 
resemblance  to  the  true  one  than  several  of  the  forty  to 
which  we  have  just  referred,  and  if  it  be  reduced  to  Kah- 
kwa  it  would  still  be  only  a  corrupt  abbreviation  of  Nia- 
gara. 

More  than  fifty  years  ago,  while  leisurely  traveling 
through  western  New  York,  the  writer  well  remembers 
how  his  youthful  ears  were  charmed  with  the  flowing  ca- 
dences of  the  better  class  of  Indians  as  they  intoned  rather 
than  spake  the  beautiful  names  which  their  ancestors  had 
given  to  different  localities.  Every  vowel  was  fully 
sounded. 

O-N-E-I-D-A  was  then  Oh  -  ne  -  i  -  dah ;  C-A-Y-U-C'r-A 
was  Kah  -  yu  -  gah  ;  G-E-N-E-S-E-E  was  Gen  -  e  -  se  -  e  ;. 
C-A-N-A-N-D-A-I-G-U-A  was  Kan  -  nan  -  dar  -  quah,  and 
N-I-A-G-A-R-A  was  Ni  -  ah  -  gah  -  rah. 

The  present  corrupt  and  abbreviated  pronunciation  of 
these  names  is  well  known.  A  people  whose  Elysium 
would  seem  to  be  imperfect  if  lacking  a  race-course  ; 
many  of  whose  youthful  scions  and  frost-crowned  sires  be- 
lieve that  the  poetry  of  motion  is  expressed  by  the  mystic 
characters  2'  17",  and  culminates  in  the  fact  which  they 
represent ;  who,  while  usurping  the  prerogative  of  Jove, 
and  compelling  the  electric  current  to  do  their  errands, 
would  "  stir  its  metal  with  their  steel,"  if  it  7vere  metal 


34 


Niagara. 


and  amenable  to  such  pointed  persuasion— auch  a  people 
is  not  likely  to  respect  the  far  niente,  either  in  name  or 
speech,  of  the  more  leisurely  and  poetic  savage. 

In  regard  to  the  name  which  commemorates  our  great 
nation,  river,  and  cataract,  the  pronunciation  nearest  to 
the  original  which  it  may  be  possible  to  perpetuate  is  Ni- 
ag-a-rah  ;  the  accent  on  the  second  syllable,  the  vowel  in 
the  first  pronounced  as  in  the  word  nigh ;  the  a  in  the 
third  and  fourth  syllables  but  slightly  abbreviated  from 
the  long  a  in  far,  and  that  in  the  second  syllable  but 
slightly  aspirated. 


CHAPTER  V. 

HISTORY. 

The  lower  Niagara — La  Salle's  first  entrance  to  it — First 
Defensive  work — Fort  Niagara — Fort  Mississauga — 
Niagara  Village — Lewiston — Portage  around  the  Falls- 
First  railroad  in  the  United  States — Fort  Schlosser — 
Old  orchard — Queenston— Butler — Ambuscade  at  Devil's 
Hole — Cayuga ^Creek — The  Griffin,  first  vessel — Navy  Is- 
land— Niagara  frontier. 

FROM  the  earliest  advent  of  the  French  missionaries 
and  voyageurs  to  the  Lake  region,  the  banks  of  the 
lower  Niagara  were  a  favorite  and  favored  locality.  Very 
early  they  were  cleared  of  the  grand  forest  which  covered 
them  and  the  genial,  fertile,  and  easily-worked  soil,  en- 
riched by  the  deep  vegetable  mould  that  had  been  accu- 


t«£„ 


History. 


35 


mulating  upon  it  for  centuries,  produced  in  lavish  abun- 
dance the  wheat,  maize,  garden  vegetables  and  fruits,  large 
and  small,  which  are  so  palatable  and  healthful,  not  only  to 
the  hardy  pioneer  but  also  to  the  effeminate  cosmopolitan. 
"  On  the  6th  day  of  December,  1678,"  says  Marshall, 
in  his  admirable  Historical  Sketches,  "  La  Salle,  in 
his  brigantine  of  ten  tons,  doubled  the  point  where  Fort 
Niagara  now  stands,  and  anchored  in  the  sheltered  waters 
of  the  river.  The  prosecution  of  his  bold  enterprise  at 
that  inclement  season,  involving  the  exploration  of  a  vast 
and  unknown  country,  in  vessels  built  on  the  way,  indi- 
cates the  indomitable  energy  and  self-reliance  of  the  intre- 
pid discoverer.  His  crew  consisted  of  sixteen  persons, 
under  the  immediate  command  of  the  Sieur  de  la  Motte. 
*  Te  Deum  laudamus '  chanted  the  grateful  Franciscans 
as  they  entered  the  noble  river.  The  strains  of  that  an- 
cient hymn  of  the  Church,  as  they  rose  from  the  deck  of 
the  adventurous  bark,  and  echoed  from  shore  and  forest, 
must  have  startled  the  watchful  Senecas  with  the  unusual 
sound,  as  they  gazed  upon  their  strange  visitors.  Never 
l)efore  had  white  men,  so  far  as  history  tells  us,  ascended 
the  river." 

La  Salle  rested  here  for  a  time,  but  no  defensive  work 
was  constructed  until  1687,  when  the  Marquis  De  Non- 
ville,  returning  from  his  famous  expedition  against  the  Se- 
necas, fortified  it,  after  the  fashion  of  the  time,  with  pali- 
sades and  ditches.  The  small  garrison  of  one  hundred 
men  which  he  left,  were  obliged  to  abandon  it  the  follow- 
ing season,  after  partially  destroying  it.  By  consent  of 
the  Iroquois  it  was  reconstructed  in  stone  in  1725-6. 


^ 


36 


Niagara. 


Opposite  to  Fort  Niagara,  on  the  Canadian  side,  are  Fort 
Mississauga  and  tiie  Village  of  Niagara.  'J'he  latter,  Mar- 
shall says,  "  is  an  older  settlement  than  any  on  the  eastern 
side  of  the  river,  and  boasted  a  weekly  newspaper  as  early 
as  1795.  In  1792,  it  became  the  residence  of  the  Lieu- 
tenant-Ciovernor  of  Canada,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year,  the  tirst  session  of  the  Parliament  of  the  Upper  Pro- 
vince was  held  there."  It  is  a  charming  location,  and 
there  are  in  the  large  village  quite  a  number  of  substantial 
and  tasteful  mansions.  Several  Americans  have  pur- 
chased dwellings  in  the  place  for  summer  occupation.  A 
mile  above  was  Fort  George,  now  a  ruin. 

Seven  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  at  the 
head  of  its  navigation,  nestled  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain, 
formerly  so  called,  is  Lewiston,  so  named  in  1805  in  hon- 
or of  Governor  Lewis,  of  New  York.  Here,  in  1678,  I.a 
Salle  "constructed  a  cabin  of  palisades  to  serve  as  a  ma- 
gazine or  storehouse."  And  this  was  the  commencement 
of  the  portage  to  the  river  above  the  Falls,  which  passed 
over  nearly  the  same  route  as  the  present  road  to  Lewis - 
ton,  and  what  is  still  called  the  Portage  Road.  Here,  too, 
the  first  railway  in  the  United  States  was  constructed, 
True,  it  was  built  of  wood,  and  was  called  a  tramway.  But 
a  car  was  run  upon  it  to  transport  goods  up  and  down  the 
mountain.  The  motion  of  the  car  was  regulated  by  a 
windlass,  and  it  was  supported  on  runners  instead  of 
wheels.  This  was  a  very  good  arrangement  for  getting 
freight  down  the  hill,  but  not  so  good  for  getting  it  up. 
But  the  wages  of  labor  were  low  in  every  sense,  since 
many  of  the  Indians,  demoralized  by  the  use  of  those  two 


i 


History. 


37 


most  pestiltMit  drugs,  rum  and  tol)acco,  would  do  a  day's 
work  for  a  pint  of  the  former  and  a  plug  of  the  latter. 

The  upi)er  terminus  of  this  portage  was  for  many  years 
merely  an  open  landing  place  for  canoes  and  boats.  In 
3750  the  French  constructed  a  strong  stockade-work  on 
the  bank  of  the  river  above  their  barracks  and  store 
houses.  This  they  called  Fort  du  Portage.  It  was  burnt 
in  1759,  by  Chabert  Joncaire,  who  was  in  command  of  it 
when  the  British  commenced  the  formidable  and  fatal 
campaign  of  that  year  against  the  French.  After  F'ort 
Niagara  was  surrendered  to  Sir  William  Johnson,  Joncaire 
retired  with  his  small  garrison  to  the  station  on  Chippawa 
Creek. 

In  less  than  two  years  the  work  was  rebuilt  in  a. much 
more  substantial  manner  by  Captain  Joseph  Schlosser,  a 
German  who  served  in  the  British  army  in  that  cam- 
paign. It  had  the  outline  of  a  tolerably  regular  fortifica- 
tion, with  rude  bastions  and  connecting  curtains,  sur- 
rounded by  a  somewhat  formidable  ditch.  The  interior 
plateau  was  a  little  elevated  and  surrounded  by  an  earth 
embankment  piled  against  the  inner  side  of  the  palisades, 
over  which  its  defenders  could  fire  with  great  effect. 

When  the  writer  first  saw  its  remains,  the  outlines  and 
ditches  of  the  work  were  quite  distinct.  Only  some 
slight  inequalities  in  the  surface  now  indicate  its  site. 
Captain  Schlosser  was  afterwards  promoted  to  the  rank 
of  Colonel  and  died  in  the  Fort.  An  oak  slab,  on  which 
his  name  was  cut,  was  standing  at  his  grave  just  above 
the  Fort  as  late  as  the  year  1808. 

Some  sixty  rods  below,  is  still  standing  what  is  believed 


38 


iV 


laeara. 


to  be  the  first  civilized  chimney  built  in  this  part  of  the 
country.  It  is  a  large  and  most  substantial  stone  struc- 
ture, around  which  the  French  built  their  barracks. 
These  were  burnt  by  Joncaire  on  his  retreat.  A  large 
dwelling  house  was  built  to  it  by  the  English,  which 
afforded  shelter  for  many  different  occupants  until  it  was 
burnt  in  1813.  Its  Inst  occupant,  before  it  was  destroyed, 
kept  it  as  a  tavern,  and  it  became  a  favorite  place  for 
festive  and  holiday  gatherings.  What  hath  been  may  be. 
When  the  Falls  shall  have  receded  two  miles,  the  brides 
and  grooms  of  that  age  will  find  their  Cataract  House 
near  the  site  of  old  Fort  Schlosser. 

To  the  west  of  this  old  stone  chimney  stand  the  few 
surviving  trees  of  the  first  apple  orchard  set  out  in  this 
region.  As  early  as  1796,  it  is  described  as  being  a 
"well  fenced  orchard,  containing  1200  trees."'  Not  fifty 
are  now  standing. 

Across  the  river  from^Lewiston  is  Queenston,  so  named 
in  honor  of  Queen  Charlotte.  The  battle  which  bears 
its  name,  was  fought  on  the  13th  of  October,  1813,  be- 
tween the  American  and  British  armies.  The  former 
crossed  the  river,  made  the  attack,  and  carried  the 
heights.  The  commander  of  the  British  forces,  (ieneral 
Brock,  and  one  of  his  aids,  Colonel  McDonald,  were 
killed.  The  British  were  reinforced,  and  the  American 
militia  refusing  to  cross  over  to  aid  the  Americans,  the 
latter  were  obliged  to  return  across  the  river,  leaving 
quite  a  number  of  prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
Some  years  afterward,  the  Colonial  Parliament  caused  a 
fine  monument  to  be  erected  on  the  heights  to  the  mem- 


I 


t 
c 

s 

V 

t( 
tl 


History. 


ory  of  (ieneral  Brock.       It  presents  a  conspicuous  and 
imposing  appearance  from  the  terrace  below. 

Two  miles  and  a  quarter  above  Lewiston,  as  we  have 
noted  in  Part  Second,  is  the  Devil's  Hole,  famous  as  the 
scene  of  a  short  supplementary  campaign,  made  against 
the  English,  by  the  Seneca  Indians,  in  1763.  Though 
doubtless  instigated  by  French  traders,  yet  it  was  a  purely 
Indian  enterprise,  gotten  up  among  themselves,  and  com- 
manded by  Farmer's  Brother,  one  of  the  Seneca  chiefs, 
who  was  a  fighter  as  well  as  an  orator.  It  was  one  of 
the  best  planned  and  most  successfully  executed  military 
stratagems  ever  recorded.  It  was  calculated  upon  the 
nicest  balancing  of  facts  and  probabilities,  and  executed 
with  unrivaled  thoroughness  and  celerity. 

It  was  known  to  the  Indians  that  the  English  were  in 
the  habit,  almost  daily,  of  sending  supply  trains,  under 
escort,  from  Fort  Niagara  to  Fort  Schlosser.  After  unload- 
ing at  the  latter  post,  they  returned  to  the  former.  They 
knew  also  that  there  was  a  smaller  supporting  force  of 
one  or  two  companies  at  Lewiston,  which  could  join  the 
escort  from  Fort  Niagara,  in  case  of  an  extra  valuable 
train.  They  kneiu  too  that  the  whole  force  at  both  places 
was  not  large  enough  to  furnish  an  escort  of  more  than 
four  hundred  men.  They  kneiv  that  the  narrow  pass  at 
the  Devil's  Hole  was  the  best  point  to  place  the  ambus- 
cade. They  knc7v  that  when  the  train  went  up  they  could 
see  whether  its  escort  was  large  or  small,  and  so  they 
would  know  whether  they  should  concentrate  the;  fo'-ce 
to  attack  the  larger  escort,  or  divide  it  and  attack  the 
train  and  small  escort  first  and  the  relieving  force  after- 


40 


Niagara. 


\ 


ward.  They  cojijectured  that  the  train  would  have  a  small 
escort ;  but  if  it  should  have  a  large  one,  so  much  the 
better,  as  there  would  be  a  larger  number  in  a  small  space 
for  their  balls  to  riddle.  They  conjectured  that  if  the 
escort  were  small,  the  firing  on  the  first  attack  would  be 
heard  by  the  soldiers  at  Lewiston,  and  that  they  would 
hurry  to  the  relief  of  their  comrades,  not  dreaming  of 
danger  before  they  should  reach  them. 

The  fatal  result  demonstrated  the  correctness  of  their 
reasoning.  They  made  a  double  ambuscade  :  one  for  the 
train  and  escort ;  the  other  for  the  relieving  force,  and 
they  destroyed  both,  only  three  of  the  first  escaping  and 
eight  of  the  latter.  The  event  occurred  on  the  14th  of 
September,  1763.  We  say  nothing  of  its  morality.  We 
speak  only  of  its  strategy.  John  Stedman  commanded 
the  supply  train.  At  the  first  fire  of  the  Indians,  seeing 
the  fatal  snare,  he  wheeled  his  horse  at  once,  and  spurring 
him  through  a  gauntlet  of  bullets,  reached  Schlosser  in 
safety.  A  wounded  soldier  concealed  himself  in  the 
bushes,  and  the  drummer-boy  lodged  in  a  tree  as  he  fell 
down  the  bank.  Eight  of  the  relieving  force  escaped  to 
Fort  Niagara  to  tell  the  story  of  their  defeat. 

Three  miles  above  Schlosser  is  Cayuga  Creek,  near 
the  mouth  of  which  La  Salle  built  the  Griffin^  a  vessel 
of  sixty  tons  burden,  the  first  civilized  craft  that  floated 
on  the  upper  lakes,  and  the  pioneer  of  an  inland  com- 
merce of  unrivaled  growth  and  value.  She  reached 
Green  Bay  safely,  but  on  her  return  voyage  foundered 
with  all  on  board  in  Lake  Huron. 

The   French   also   built  some  small  vessels  on  Navy 


History. 


41 


\ 


Island,  (the  French  name,  Isle  la  Marine,  given  to  the 
island  having  been  thus  translated  by  the  English.)  The 
reinforcements  sent  from  Venango  for  the  French,  during 
the  siege  of  Fort  Niagara  by  Sir  ^\'illiam  Johnson,  in 
T  759,  were  landed  on  this  island.  To  the  east  of  it  there 
is  a  large  deep  basin,  formed  at  the  foot  of  the  channel, 
between  Grand  and  Buckhorn  islands.  The  upper  part 
of  this  channel  being  narrow,  the  basin  appears  like  a 
bay.  In  this  bay  the  French  burnt  and  sunk  the  two 
vessels,  as  is  supposed,  which  brought  down  the  Venango 
reinforcements  ;  hence  the  name  "  Burnt  Ship  Bay.'"  The 
writer  has  seen  the  ribs  and  timbers  of  these  vessels  be- 
neath the  water,  and  caught  many  fine  perch  which  had 
their  haunts  near  them. 

The  Niagara  frontier  was  the  theatre  of  great  activity 
during  the  war  of  181 2,  the  particulars  of  which  we  need 
not  record  again,  as  they  are  already  matters  of  familiar 
history.  Let  it  suffice  to  say,  that  the  contest  erded  tri- 
umphantly for  both  parties  ;  for  England,  in  that  she 
yielded  nothing  we  asked  of  her ;  and  for  the  United 
States,  in  that  they  won  so  many  glorious  victories  by 
land  and  sea.  Every  good  citizen  on  both  sides  of  the 
line  must  earnestly  hope  that  there  never  may  be  a  recur- 
rence of  such  scenes. 

The  French  rule  in  North  America  was  finally  tenni- 
nated  in  1763.  It  virtually  ceased  soon  after  the  capture 
of  Quebec  by  General  Wolf,  in  1759,  and  the  vast  pos- 
sessions which  they  had  been  the  first  to  explore  and 
partially  to   civilize,   were   transferred   to  their  English 

D 


42 


Niagara. 


n'.ighbors.      England   and  America   are  now  the  joint 
owners  of  Niagara. 

We  thus  conckide  what  may  be  called  its  early  history. 
Some  other  historical  facts  and  incidents  will  be  found  in 
the  sequel,  Parts  Second  and  Third. 


,    4. 


nt 


in 


PART    SECOND. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


GEOLOGY. 


America  the  old  world — Geologically  recent  origin  of  the 
Falls — Evidence  thereof— Captain  William's  surveys  for 
ship  canal — Former  extent  of  Lake  Michigan — Its  outlet 
into  Illinois  River — The  Niagara  Barrier — How  broken 
through — Niagara  born. 

IF  Professor  Agassiz  and  Elie  De  Beaumont  are  cor- 
rect in  their  geological  reading,  America  is  the  old 
world  rather  than  the  new,  and  the  northern  portion  of  it, 
stretching    west  from   Eastern    Canada  to    the   Rocky 
Mountains,  was  the  first  to  be  lifted  into  the  genial  light 
of  the  sun.     And  Professor  Lyell  has  recourse  to  the  vast 
stellar  spaces  for  a  standard  by  which  to  estimate  "  the 
interval  of  time  which  divides  the  human  epoch  from  the 
origin  of  the  corralline  limestone,  over  which  the  Niagara 
is  precipitated  at  the  Falls."     "  The  Alps,  the  Pyrenees, 
the  Himalayas,"  he  continues,  "have  not  only  begun  to 
exist  as  lofty  mountain  chains,  but  the  solid  materials  of 
which  they  are  composed  have  been  slowly  elaborated  be- 
neath the  sea  within  the  stupendous  interval  of  ages  here 
alluded  to." 

A  little  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  Professor  Agassiz 
made  a  tour  to  the  Upper  Lakes  with  a  class  of  students 


,  ii 


44 


Niagara. 


for  the  purpose  of  giving  them  practical  lessons  in  geology 
and  other  branches  of  natural  science.  The  day  was 
devoted  to  out-door  examinations  of  different  localities, 
and  in  the  evening  was  given  a  familiar  lecture  expository 
of  the  day's  work.  One  of  the  points  thus  examined  was 
Niagara,  and  it  was  the  writers  good  fortune  to  be  able 
ti  A-crept  an  invitation  to  listen  to  the  instructive  lecture 
whic'i  ;o  !   >ved  the  examination. 

Professor  Agassiz  concurs  with  other  geologists  in  the 
opir:  .  n  that  Ihe  Falls  were  once  at  Lewiston,  and  one  of 
the  most  mteiesting  portions  of  the  lecture  was  his  ani- 
mated description  of  the  retrocession  of  the  Falls,  traced 
step  by  step  back  to  their  present  position. 

From  this  oral  exposition,  from  other  high  geological 
authorities,  and  from  personal  observation  extending 
through  a  quarter  of  a  century,  the  writer  has  derived  the 
facts  herein  presented. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  at  a  comparatively  recent 
geological  period  the  Falls  of  Niagara  had  no  existence. 
The  scope  and  limits  of  a  work  like  this  will  not  admit  of 
the  full  exposition  of  this  postulate  which  the  writer  hopes 
hereafter  to  give.  For  the  present  it  may  suffice  to  men- 
tion two  facts  which  are  conclusive  on  this  point. 

Dr.  Houghton,  geologist  of  the  State  of  Michigan, 
states  in  his  report  that  the  elevation  of  I^ke 
Michigan  above  tide  water  is  578  feet.  That  of  Lake 
Erie,  as  shown  by  the  surveys  of  the  Erie  Canal,  is  568 
feet,  the  difference  of  level  between  the  two  being  ten 
feet.  The  fall  or  descent  in  the  Niagara  River  from  I^ke 
Erie  to  Gill  Creek,  a  few  rods  above  the  site  of  old  Fort 


CV 


I 


^- 


mmmitimmm 


.  ir:;"'r~j~i" 


] •'mf^mm^ 


Geology. 


45 


^v 


Schlosser,  is  twenty  feet.  Hence  we  learn  that  the  surface 
of  the  water  in  Lake  Michigan  is  thirty  feet  higher  than 
that  of  the  Niagara  River  near  the  mouth  of  Gill  Creek. 
If,  therefore,  we  find  anywhere  below  the  Falls  a  barrier 
drawn  across  this  river  that  is  more  than  thirty  feet  high, 
its  water  would  thereby  be  set  back  to  Lake  Michigan. 
A  moderate  elevation  above  this  thirty  feet  would  serve 
as  a  safe  shore-line  for  still  water. 

,The  existence  of  this  barrier  has  been  demonstrated. 
In  the  year  1835,   by  direction  of  the  War  Department, 
Captain  W.  G.  Williams,   of  the  United  States  Topogra- 
phical Engineers,  surveyed  three  routes  for  a  canal  around 
Niagara  Falls.     The  first  of  these  routes  was  run  from  the 
river  nearly  in  a  straight  line  to  the  head  of  Bloody  Run 
and  thence  a  portion  of  the  way  over  the  terrace  laid  bare 
by  the  rapid  subsidence  of  the  water  after  the  barrier  had 
been  broken  through.     The  second  route  commencing  at 
the  same  point  with  the  first  —the  old  Schlosser  Store- 
house just  above  Gill  Creek — was   run  up  the  valley  of 
the  creek,  through  the  ridge  above  Lewiston  at  a  slight 
depression  in  the  general  line  of  the  hill,  and  thence  to 
Lake  Ontario  by  two  different  routes.     The  highest  point 
in  the  ridge  was  found  to  be  sixty  feet  above  the  surface 
of  the  water  in  the  river  at  the  starting  point.  Here  then 
is  found  the  requisite  barrier,  a  dam  thirty  feet  higher  than 
the  water  in  Lake  Michigan  and  having  a  base,  as  will  be 
seen  by  reference  to  the  map,  of  two  and  a  half  miles  in 
breadth.     This  was  its  breadth  at  the  time  of  the  survey. 
But  a  careful  observance  of  the  topography  of  the  banks 
on  both  sides  of  the  river  will  show  that  it  must  originally 


46 


Niagara. 


have  been  not  less  than  twice  that  breadth,  and  that  the 
depressions  now  existing  are  the  results  of  the  denudation 
caused  by  the  removal  of  the  barrier.  The  profile  given 
on  the  map  of  a  portion  of  line  No.  2,  of  Capt.  Williams' 
survey,  is  reduced  from  one  of  the  maps  accompanying 
his  report.  This  profile  passes  through  the  Lewiston 
ridge  about  one  mile  east  of  the  site  of  old  Fort  Grey. 

While  this  barrier  was  unbroken  Lake  Erie  as  extended 
would  have  covered  all  land  that  was  not  twenty-six  feet 
higher  than  the  present  level  of  the  river  at  old  Schlosser 
landing,  since  the  water  there  is  sixteen  feet   below   the 
level  of  Lake  Erie.     It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  this  barrier 
on  a  good  map.     From  old  Fort  Grey  it  stretches   east- 
ward a  short  distance  past  Batavia,  and  then  turns  to  the 
south  through   Wyoming  into   Cattaraugus  County.     In 
the  latter  county  it  forms  the  summit  level  of  the  Genesee 
Valley  Canal.     This  summit  is  a  swamp  sixteen  hundred 
and  twenty-three  feet  above  tide  water,  and  the  water  runs 
from  it  northerly  through  the  Genesee  River  into  the  Gulf 
of  St.  Lawrence,  and  southerly,   through   the  Alleghany, 
into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  while  within  a   short  distance 
rises  Cattaraugus  Creek  which  flows  west  into  Lake  Erie, 
The  gradual  rise  of  the  Niagara  barrier  as  it  extends  to 
the  east  was  demonstrated    by  the   surveys  of  Captain 
Williams.     By  the  Gill  Creek  line  to  Lewiston  he  found 
its  elevation  above  the  river,  as  h-^s  been  stated,    sixty 
feet.     By  the   Cayuga  Creek  line  to  Pekin,  it  was  sixty- 
four  feet,  and  by  the  Tonewanda  Creek  line  to  Lockport, 
it  was  eighty-four  feet,  as  is  also  shown  by  the  surveys  of 
the  Erie  Canal. 


Ill 


r-  .     11 


he 
on 
en 


Geology. 


47 


To  the  west  it  extends  from  Brock's  Monument  to  the 
ridge  which  bounds  the  easterly  side  of  the  valley  of 
the  Chippawa  Creek,  and  thence  around  the  head  of 
Lake  Ontario  into  the  Sinicoe  Hills. 

At  that  period  all  the  islands  in  the  Niagara  River 
valley  were  submerged.  The  lower  sections  of  the  val- 
leys of  the  Chippawa,  Cayuga,  Tonnewanda  and  Buffalo 
Creeks  were  also  submerged.  The  site  of  Buffalo  was, 
probably,  a  small  island,  and  many  other  similar  islands 
were  scattered  over  the  broad  expanse  of  water. 

And  this  brings  us  to  our  second  cardinal  fact.  Lake 
Michigan,  having  absorbed  or  spread  over  all  the  vast 
water-links  in  the  great  chain  between  Superior  and  On- 
tario, was  the  most  stupendous  body  of  fresh  water  on  the 
globe.  Its  drainage  was  to  the  south  through  the  valleys 
of  the  Des  Plaines,  Kankakee,  Illinois  and  Mississippi 
Rivers,  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  The  evidence  of  this 
fact  is  abundant.  The  survey  of  the  Illinois  Central  Rail- 
road shows  that  the  surface  of  Lake  Michigan  is  three 
hundred  feet  above  the  line  of  low  water  in  the  Ohio 
River  at  Cairo,  where  it  joins  the  Mississippi.  It  also 
shows  that  the  low  water-line  of  the  Kankakee,  where  the 
rail-road  crosses  it,  is  eleven  feet  above  the  surface  of  the 
lake.  This  river,  which  forms  the  north-eastern  branch 
of  the  Illinois,  rises  in  the  State  of  Indiana,  near  South 
Bend,  two  miles  from  the  St.  Joseph.  From  its  very 
commencement  at  its  head-springs  it  is  a  shallow  channel 
in  the  middle  of  a  swamp, — called  on  the  maps  the 
"  Kankakee  Pond," — nearly  a  hundred  miles  long,  and 
from  two  to  five  miles  wide.     On  its  north  side,  in  Porter 


/i 


48 


Niagara. 


> 


County,  is  a  broad  cove,  with  a  small  stream  in  the  midst 
of  it,  which  reaches  up  due  north  to  within  a  stone's 
throw  of  the  south  branch  of  the  East  Calumic  river, 
which  empties  into  the  south-west  corner  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago,  while  traveling  by  stage 
from  Logansport,  Indiana,  to  Chicago,  the  writer  was  told 
by  a  fellow-passenger  that  it  was  not  an  unusual  thing,  on 
the  occurrence  of  a  strong  north  wind  during  the  spring 
floods,  to  cross  with  boats  from  this  branch  of  the  East 
Calumic  into  the  Kankakee  Pond  through  this  cove.  We 
have  not  been  able  to  obtain  any  authentic  topographical 
survey,  which  shows  the  elevation  that  it  would  be  neces- 
sary to  overcome  in  order  to  effect  this  meeting  of  the 
waters. 

Again.  The  river  Des  Plaines  rises  near  the  northern 
line  of  the  State  of  Illinois,  and  running  south  parallel 
with  the  lake  shore,  forms,  at  its  junction  with  the  Kanka- 
kee, the  Illinois.  The  Des  Plaines  is  only  ten  miles  west 
of  Chicago.  One  of  its  eastern  tributaries  rises  very  near 
the  head  waters  of  the  south  branch  of  the  Chicago  River, 
and  often,  when  flooded  by  heavy  rains,  its  waters  flow 
over  into  the  lake.  At  this  point,  also,  the  Jesuits  and  the 
early  settlers  were  in  the  habit  of  crossing  in  their  boats 
to  the  Des  Plaines,  and  thence  into  the  Illinois.  The 
writer  is  informed  by  Col.  William  A.  Bird,  the  last  Sur 
veyor  in  Chief  of  the  boundary  Commission,  that  when 
the  party  was  at  Macinaw,  in  the  spring  of  1823,  Mr. 
Ramsey  Crooks,  the  adventurous  and  enterprising  agent 
of  the  late  Mr.  John  Jacob  Astor,  came  up  to  that  place 


1 

it) 


Geology. 


49 


IlL 


. \  ', 


from  Joliet  on  the  Illinois  in  one  of  the  big  canoes  so 
generally  used  at  that  day  for  navigating  the  lakes,  and 
that  Mr.  Crooks  informed  them  that  he  crossed  from  the 
Des  Plaines  into  Lake  Michigan  without  taking  his  canoe 
out  of  the  water. 

Again.  The  deep  cut  in  the  Illinois  and  Michigan 
Canal,  recently  excavated  by  the  City  of  Chicago,  in  order 
to  improve  its  sewer  drainage,  is  quite  uniform  at  its  up- 
per surface,  and  is  sixteen  to  eighteen  feet  deep  for  a  dis- 
tance of  twenty-six  miles.  The  bottom  of  this  cut  is  six 
feet  below  the  lowest  water-mark  ever  noted  in  the  lake. 
At  the  point  where  the  deep  cut  reaches  the  Des  Plaines, 
it  is  ten  feet  lower  than  the  bottom  of  the  river.  It  is 
sixteen  miles  further  down  before  the  bottom  of  the  cut 
and  the  river  coincide  with  each  other.  Nearly  the  whole 
of  this  distance  it  is  necessary  to  maintain  a  guard-bank, 
to  protect  the  canal  from  the  inundations  of  the  river. 
Here  we  find  there  is  a  dam  only  about  twelve  feet  high, 
that  once  separated  the  waters  of  the  lake  from  those  of 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

There  were,  therefore,  two  courses  through  which  the 
waters  of  Lake  Michigan  could  once  have  passed  into  the 
Illinois  ;  the  first  through  the  Des  Plaines,  and  the  second 
from  the  head-springs  of  the  East  Calumic  into  the 
great  north  cove  of  the  Kankakee  Pond.  When  we  con- 
sider the  immense  drainage  which  must  have  been  dis- 
charged through  these  channels  into  the  valley  of  the 
Illinois,  we  can  well  understand  the  gigantic  proportions 
of  that  valley  when  compared  with  the  stream  which  now 
flows  through  it.      The  perpendicular  and   water-worn 


50 


Niagara. 


1  '1^ 


sides  of  Starved  Rock,  below  Ottawa,  attest  the  mag 
tude  of  the  lake-like  floods  which  must  once  have  dashed 
around  them. 

Having  established  the  existence  of  the  Niagara  bar- 
rier, it  remains  to  analyze  its  structure,  and  then  to  search 
out  the  agencies  by  which  it  was  broken  down.  First,  in 
regard  to  its  organization.  An  examination  of  the 
locality  reveals  the  fact  that  the  portion  of  the  ridge  ly- 
ing between  old  Fort  (irey  and  Brock's  Monument  was 
of  a  peculiar  character.  At  the  former  point  the  har-^, 
compact  clay  had  in  it  but  a  slight  mixture  of  grey  Ic 
and  sand.  At  the  latter  point,  fine  gravel  was  plentifun^^ 
mingled  with  this  loam.  This  latter  mass  being  quite 
porous,  would  rapidly  become  saturated  with  water,  and 
its  component  parts  be  easily  separated.  The  declivity 
of  the  high,  hard  clay  bank,  down  to  the  rock  at  the  edge 
of  the  precipice,  is  quite  abrupt  on  the  American  side, 
while  on  the  opposite  side  the  ascent  towards  Brock's 
Monument,  and  above,  is  quite  gradual.  This  formation 
extends  upward  about  one  mile  and  a-half,  when  the 
gravel  and  loam  disappear,  and  the  hard  clay  succeeds 
and  continues  upward  with  a  gradual  downward  slope 
nearly  to  the  Falls. 

This  upper  drift  was  about  twenty  feet  thick,  and  rested 
on  a  laminated  stratum  of  the  Niagara  lime-stone.  This 
stratum,  though  quite  compact,  and  having  its  seams 
closely  jointed,  yet  was  not  so  thoroughly  indurated  as 
the  lower  strata  of  the  Niagara  group,  and  its  thin  plates 
were  more  easily  displaced  and  broken  up.  The  depres- 
sion marked  in  the  sixth  mile  of  the  profile  referred  to. 


ed 


in 

y- 


Geology. 


5' 


■  r 


was  evidently  cut  out  by  the  waters  of  Fish  Creek,  after 
the  barrier  had  been  removed,  since  the  land  near  the 
head  waters  of  this  stream  is  higher  than  at  the  point 
where  the  line  runs  through  the  ridge.  It  is  also  notice- 
able that  the  ridge,  at  this  point,  approaches  the  brink  of 
the  escarpment  more  nearly  than  at  any  other,  and  the 
sharp  declivity  of  its  northern  face  is  clearly  shown  on 
the  profile. 

Within  the  last  century  there  have  been  two,  and  per- 
haps more,  large  tidal  waves  on  the  great  lakes.  There 
have  also  been  many  severe  gales,  which  have  inundated 
the  low  lands  around  their  shores,  and  attacked,  with  de- 
structive effect,  their  higher  banks.  One  of  these  gales 
is  mentioned  in  the  sequel.  It  came  from  about  two 
points  north  of  west,  and  as  noted,  raised  the  water  six 
feet  perpendicular  on  the  rapids  above  the  Falls.  In  the 
narrow  portions  of  the  river  above  it  must  have  elevated 
the  water  still  more.  Of  course  a  much  higher  rise  would 
have  been  produced  by  the  force  of  such  a  gale  acting 
upon  the  vastly  increased  surface  of  the  larger  lake. 

The  first  serious  impression  upon  the  Niagara  barrier 
must  have  been  made  by  these  two  mighty  forces.  By 
them,  undoubtedly,  was  the  first  breach  made  over  its 
top,  thus  commencing  that  slow  but  sure  denudation, 
which  finally  reached  the  rock  below.  And  by  their  aid 
was  even  the  rock  itself  removed. 

Here  then, — changing  the  tense, — is  the  composition 
and  structure  of  our  dam.  It  is  thirty  feet  high,  with  a 
base  two-and-a-half  miles  certainly,  and  probably  five,  in 
width.     How  to  break  through  it,  is  the  problem  to  be 


52 


Niagara. 


solved — or  dissolved — by  the  great  inland  sea  which  laves 
it,  so  that  the  v/ater  may  flow  onward  and  downward  to 
the  Atlantic. 

Fortunately  we  have,  all  along  the  shores  of  our  inland 
lakes,  an  annual  demonstration  of  the  method  by  which 
such  problems  are  solved.  A  constant  abrasion  ofth^:ir 
banks  is  produced  by  the  action  of  water,  frost  and  ice. 
And  these  are  the  resistless  elements,  which,  by  their  per- 
sistent and  powerful  action  during  the  lapse  of  ages,  are 
to  excavate  a  channel  for  the  waters  of  the  Niagara.  The 
gradual  upward  slope  of  the  rock  and  the  thick  upper 
drift  broke  the  force  of  the  huge  waves  that  were  oc- 
casionally dashed  upon  them.  Their  position  could  not 
have  been  more  favorable  to  resist  attack.  It  was  a 
Malakoff  of  earth  on  a  foundation  of  rock.  Little  by  little 
the  refluent  waves  carried  back  portions  of  the  crumbled 
mass,  and  deposited  them  in  the  neighboring  depres- 
sions. Slowly,  wearily,  desultorily  the  erosion  and  des- 
quamation went  on.  At  last  the  upper  drift  was  broken 
down,  ^nd  its  crumbled  remains  swept  from  the  rock. 

Then  the  insidious  forces  of  heat  and  cold,  sun  and 
frost  became  potent.  The  thin  laminte  of  limestone  were 
loosened  by  the  frost,  broken  up  and  disintegrated.  At 
:ast  a  thin  sheet  of  water  was  driven  through  the  gorge  by 
some  fierce  gale.  The  steep  declivity  of  the  counterscarp 
was  then  fatally  attacked,  and  after  a  time  its  perpen- 
dicular face  laid  bare.  Thenceforth  the  elements  had 
the  top  and  one  end  of  the  rocky  mass  to  work  on,  and 
they  worked  at  a  tremendous  advantage.  The  breaking 
up  and  disintegration  of  the  rock  went  on.     It  was  gradu- 


» 


"^^."iw?" 


Geology. 


53 


ally  crumbled  into  sand  which  was  washed  off  by  the 
rains  and  swept  away  by  the  winds.  Finally  a  channel 
was  excavated,  of  which  the  bottom  was  lower  than  the 
surface  of  the  great  lake  above ;  the  sparkling  waters 
rushed  in,  dashed  over  the  precipice,  and  Niagara  was- 
bom. 

As  the  water  worked  its  way  over  the  precipice  gradu- 
ally, so  it  would  gradually  excavate  its  channel  to  Lake 
Ontario,  and  it  is  not  probable  that  any  great  inundation 
of  the  lower  terrace  could  have  occurred. 


I 


CHAPTER   VII. 


GEOLOGY. 


Composition  of  terrace  cut  through — Why  retrocession  is 
possible— Three  sections  from  Lewiston  to  Falls — Devil's 
Hole— Medina  group — Recession  long  checked — Whirl- 
pool— Soon  cut  out — Outlet  narrowest-part  of  river — Rap- 
ids above— The  mirror — Depth  of  water  and  chasm — 
Former  grand  Fall — Height  of  Falls. 

THE  water  having  laid  bare  the  face  of  the  mountain 
from  top  to  bottom,  we  are  enabled  to  examine  the 
composition  of  the  mass  through  which  it  has  been  slowly 
cutting  its  way.  After  removing  the  thin  plates  of  the 
uppei  stratum,  as  we  descend,  according  to  Professor 
Hall,  we  find  : 

1.  Niagara  limestone — compact  and  grodiferous. 

2.  Soft  argillo-calcareous  shale. 


m»0»i,  «-<*fcirnrHjl>irit-  i 


34 


Niagara 


V      \ 


3.  Compact  grey  limestone. 

4.  Thin  layers  of  green  shale. 

5.  Grey  and  mottled  sandstone  constituting  with  those 
below  the  Medina  group. 

6.  Red  shale  and  marl  with  thin  courses  of  sandstone 
near  the  top. 

7.  Grey  quartzose  sandstone. 

8.  Red  shaly  sandstone  and  marl. 

Before  reaching  the  Whirlpool  the  mass  becomes,  prac- 
tically, resolved  into  numbers  three,  four  and  five,  the 
limestone,  as  a  general  rule,  growing  thicker  and  harder, 
and  the  shale  also,  as  we  follow  up  the  stream. 

The  reason  why  retrocession  of  the  Fall  is  possible  is 
found  in  the  occurrence  of  the  shale  noted  above  as  un- 
derlying the  rock.  It  is  a  species  of  indurated  clay, 
harder  or  softer  according  to  the  pressure  to  which  it 
may  have  been  subjected.  When  protected  from  the  ac- 
tion of  the  elements  .t  retains  its  hardness,  but  when 
exposed  to  them  it  gradually  softens  and  crumbles  away. 
After  a  time  the  superstratum  of  rock,  which  is  full  of 
cracks  and  seams,  is  undermined  and  precipitated  into 
the  chasm  below.  If  the  stratum  of  shale  lies  at  or  near 
the  bottom  of  the  channel  beloiv  the  Fall  it  will  be 
measureably  protected  from  the  action  of  the  elements. 
In  this  case  retrocession  will  necessarily  be  very  gradual. 
If  above  the  Fall  the  shale  projects  upward  from  the 
channel  below,  then  in  proportion  to  the  elevation  and 
thickness  of  its  stratum  will  be  the  ease  and  rapidity  of 
disintegration  and  retrocession.  It  results,  therefore, 
that  the  shale  furnishes  a  very  good  standard  by  which  to 


» 


near 
be 
ents. 
dual, 
the 
and 
ty  of 
ifore, 
ich  to 


Geology. 


55 


\ 


determine  the  comparative  rapidity  with  which  the  retro- 
cession has  been  accomplished  at  different  points. 

From  the  base  of  the  escarpment  at  Lewiston  up  the 
narrow  bend  in  the  channel  above  the  Devil's  Hole,  a 
distance  of  four  and  a  quarter  miles,  the  shale  varies  in 
thickness  above  the  water,  from  one  hundred  and  thirty 
feet  at  the  commencement  of  the  gorge,  to  one  hundred 
and  ten  feet  at  the  upper  extremity  of  the  bend.     Here, 
although  there  is  very  little  upward  curve  in  the  limestone, 
yet  there  is  a  decided  curve  upward  in  the  Medina  group, 
noticed  above,  composed  mainly  of  a  hard,  red  sandstone. 
It  projects  across  the  chasm,  and  also  extends  upward  to 
near  the  neck  of  the  Whirlpool,  where  it  dips  suddenly 
downward.     The  two  strata  of  shale  becoming  apparently 
united,  follow  its  dip  and  also  extend  upward  until  they 
reach  their  maximum  elevation  near  the  middle  of  the 
Whirlpool.     Thence  the  shale  gradually  dips  again  to  the 
Railway  Suspension  Bridge,  three-quarters  of  a  mile  above. 
For  the  remaining  one  and  a  half  miles  from  this  Bridge 
to  the  present  site  of  the  Falls  the  dip  is  downward  to 
the   new   Suspension  Bridge,  where   it  rises  again   and 
passes  under  the  Falls  to  Table  Rock. 

We  may  then  divide  this  reach  of  the  Niagara  River 
into  three  sections  : 

First.  From  Lewiston  to  the   Bend  above  the  Devil's 
Hole. 

Second.  Thence  to  the  head  of  the  rapid  above  the 
Railway  Suspension  Bridge. 

Third.  Thence  to  the  present  site  of  the  Falls. 

We  are  now  prepared  to  consider  these  sections  with 


56 


Niagara. 


|i! 


reference  to  the  retrocession  of  the  fall  of  water.     Through 

the  first  section  the  shale,  as  before  noted,  lying  much 

above  the  water  surface,  and  the  superposed  limestone 

being  rather  soft  and  thinner  than  at  any  point  above, 

the  retreat  was  probably  quite  uniform  and  comparatively 

rapid,  about  the  same  progress  having  been  made  in  each 

of  the  centuries  required  to  accomplish  its  whole  length. 

Professor  James  Hall,  in  his  able  and  interesting  Report 

on  the  Geology  of  the  Fourth  District  of  the  State  of  New 

York,  suggests  the  probability  of  there  having  been  three 

distinct  Falls,  one  below  the  other,  for  some  distance  up 

stream,  when  the  retrocession  first  began.     The  average 

width  of  this  section  between  the  banks  is  one  thousand 

feet.     About  one  mile  below  its  upper  extremity  is  the 

"  Devil's  Hole,"  a  side-chasm  cut  out  of  the  American 

bank  of  the  river  by  a  small  stream  called  "  Bloody  Run,'" 

which,  in  heavy  rains  forms  quite  a  torrent.     The  "  Hole" 

has  been  made  by  the  detrition  and  washing  out  of  the 

shale  and  the  fall  of  the  over-lying  rock. 

Near  the  upper  end  of  this  section  there  is  a  rocky 
cape,  which  juts  out  from  the  Canada  bank,  and  reaches 
nearly  two-thirds  of  the  distance  across  the  chasm.  At 
this  point  the  great  Fall  met  with  a  more  obstinate  and 
longer  continued  resistance  than  at  any  other,  for  the 
reason  that  the  fine,  firm  sandstone,  belonging  to  the  Me- 
dina group,  as  has  been  stated,  here  projects  across  the 
channel  of  the  river,  and  forming  a  part  of  its  bed,  rises 
upward  several  feet  above  the  surface  of  the  water.  And 
here,  this  hard,  compact  rock  held  the  cataract  for  many 
centuries  ;    the  crooked  channel  which  incessant  friction 


Geology. 


57 


and  hammering  finally  cut  through  it,  being  one  of  the 
narrowest  in  the  river.  The  average  width  between  the 
banks  of  this  section  is  about  nine  hundred  feet. 

In  the  second  section  is  found  the  Whirlpool,  one  of 
the  most  interesting  and  attractive  portions  of  the  river. 
The  large  basin  in  which  it  lies  was  cut  out  much  more 
rapidly  than  any  other  part  of  the  chasm.     And  this  for 
the  reason  that,  in  addition  to  the  thick  stratum  of  shale, 
there  was,  underlying  the  channel,  a  large  pocket,  and, 
probably  also,  a  broad  seam  or  cleavage  filled  with  gravel 
and  pebbles.     Indeed  there  is  a  broad  and  very  ancient 
cleavage  in  the  rock-wall  on  the  Canada  side,  extending 
from  near  the  top  of  the  bank  to  an  unknown  depth  be- 
low.    Its  course  can  be  traced  from  the  north  side  of  the 
pool  some  distance  in  a  north-westerly  direction.      Of 
course  the  resistless  power  of  the  falling  water  was  not 
long  restrained  by  these  feeble  barriers,  and  here  the 
broadest  and  deepest  notch  of  any  given  century  was 
made.     The  name.  Whirlpool,  is  not  quite  accurate,  since 
the  body  of  water  to  which  it  is  applied  is  rather  a  large 
eddy,  in  which  small  whirlpools  are  constantly  forming 
and  breaking.     The  spectator  cannot  realize  the  tremen- 
dous power  exerted  by  these  pools,  unless  there  is  some 
object  floating   upon  the  surface  by  which   it   may  be 
demonstrated.     Logs  from  broken  rafts  are  f.equently 
carried  over  the  Falls,  and  when  they  reach  this  eddy, 
tree  trunks  from  two  to  three  feet  in  diameter  and  fifty 
feet  long,  after  a  few  preliminary  and  stately  gyrations, 
xxt  drawn  down  endwise,  submerged  for  awhile  and  then 
ejected  with  great  force,  to  resume  again  their  devious 


58 


Niagara. 


way  in  the  resistless  current.  And  they  will  often  be 
kept  in  this  monotonous  round  from  four  to  six  weeks 
before  escaping  to  the  rapids  below.  The  writer  has 
seen  the  bodies  of  a  man,  a  horse  and  a  hog,  floating  to- 
gether in  unconscious  equality  for  weeks  before  thus 
escaping. 

The  cleft  in  the  bed-rock  which  forms  the  debouche 
of  the  basin  is  the  narrowest  part  of  the  river,  being  only 
four  hundred  feet  in  width.     Standing  on  one  side  of  this 
gorge,  and  considering  that   the   whole  volume  of  the 
water  in  the  river  is  rushing  through  it,  the  spectator  wit- 
nesses a  manifestation  of  physical  force  which  makes  a 
more  vivid  impression  upon  his  mind  than  even  the  great 
Fall  itself     No  extravagant  attempt  at  fine  writing,  no 
studied  and  elaborate  description  can  exaggerate  the  won- 
derful beauty  and  fascination  of  this  pool.      Separated 
from  the  habitations  of  men,  at  a  distance  from  any  high- 
way, lying  secluded  in  the  midst  of  a  small  tract  of  wood, 
which  has  fortunately  been  preserved  around  it,  and  in 
which  the  dark  and  pale  greens  of  stately  pines   and 
cedars  predominate,  and  impart  a  shade  of  deeper  green 
to  the  borders  of  the  water  in  the  basin  below,  while  with- 
in the  basin  the  waters  are  rushing  onward,  plunging 
downward,  leaping  upward,  combing  over  at  the  top  in 
beautiful  waves  and  ruffles  of  dazzling   whiteness,  and 
shaded  down,  through  all  the  opalescent    tints,  to  the 
deep  emerald  at  their  base ;  whirling,  rippling,   rushing, 
tumbling,  dancing,  flashing,  roaring,  murmuring,  sighing, 
singing,  every  liquid  note  and  tone  clear  and  distinct,  in 
the  grand  diapason  which  includes  the  voice  of  many 


Geology. 


59 


en  be 
weeks 
:er  has 
ng  to- 
e   thus 

DOUche 
ig  only 

of  this 

of  the 
tor  wit- 
lakes  a 
le  great 
ting,  no 
;he  won- 
jparated 
ny  high- 
3f  wood, 
[,  and  in 
nes   and 
^er  green 
Kile  with- 
plunging 
e  top  in 
ess,  and 
5,  to  the 

rushing, 
,  sighing, 
istinct,  in 

of  many 


waters  ;  ever  varying,  never  presenting  the  same  aspects 
in  any  two  consecutive  moments  ;  incarnation  of  change 
and  emblem  of  eternity,  the  beholder  is  now  lost  in  ad- 
miration, anon  clapping  his  hands  in  glee,  and  again  look- 
ing with  moistened  eyes  as  he  comprehends  more  and 
more  the  many-sided  and  varied  beauties  of  the  match- 
less scene.  Hyperbolical  as  this  may  appear  to  care- 
less travelers,  it  will  seem  but  simple  truth  to  true 
students  and  lovers  of  nature.  None  of  those  who  may 
visit  the  Whirlpool  should  fail  to  go  down  the  bank  to 
the  water's  edge.  On  a  bright  summer  morning,  after  a 
night  shower  has  laid  the  dust,  cleansed  and  brightened 
the  foliage  of  shrub  and  tree,  purified  and  glorified  the 
atmosphere,  there  are  few  more  inviting  and  charming 
views. 

The  remaining  portion  of  this  section  is  a  beautiful 
curve,  reaching  up  just  above  the  railway  Suspension 
Bridge.  The  water  is  in  a  perpetual  tumult,  a  perfect 
embodiment  of  the  spirit  of  unrest.  Owing  to  the  rapidity 
of  the  descent  and  the  narrowness  of  the  curve,  the 
water  is  forced  into  a  broken  ridge  in  the  centre  of  the 
channel.  There,  in  its  wild  tumult,  it  is  tossed  up  into 
fanciful  cones  and  mounds,  which  are  crowned  with  a 
flashing  coronal  of  liquid  gems,  by  the  isolated  drops  and 
delicate  spray  thrown  off  from  the  whirling  mass,  some- 
times to  the  height  of  thirty  feet. 

Standing  on  the  Bridge  and  looking  down  stream,  the 
spectator  will  see  near  by,  on  the  American  shore,  a  very 
good  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  the  shale,  there 
cropping  out  above  the  surface  of  the  water,  is   worn 


6o 


Niagara. 


away,  leaving  the  superposed  rock  projecting  beyond  it. 

In  the  third  and  last  section  the  shale  continues  its 
downward  dip,  and  at  several  places  entirely  disappears. 
The  rock  lying  upon  it  is  quite  compact,  and  some  of  it 
very  hard.  The  deep  water,  into  which  the  falling  water 
was  formerly  received,  partially  protected  the  shale,  so 
that  many  centuries  must  have  elapsed  before  the  excava- 
tion of  this  section  was  completed. 

Sixty  rods  below  the  American  Fall  is  the  upper  Sus- 
pension Bridge.  The  distance  between  the  banks  at  this 
point  is  twelve  hundred  feet.  The  average  width  of  the 
section  is  eleven  hundred  feet.  From  this  bridge,  look- 
ing downward,  no  one  can  fail  to  be  impressed  with  the 
serene  and  quiet  beauty  of  the  mirror  below,  reflecting 
from  the  surface  of  its  emerald  and  apparently  unfathom- 
able depths,  life-size  and  life-like  images  of  surrounding 
objects.  The  calm,  majestic,  unbroken  current  is  in 
striking  contrast  with  the  fall  and  foam  and  chopping 
sea  above. 

The  average  depth  of  the  water  between  the  two  Sus- 
pension Bridges,  as  ascertained  by  measuring,  is  one  hun- 
dred feet.  But  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  is  the 
depth  of  the  water  flowing  above  the  immense  mass  of 
rock,  stones  and  gravel  which  has  fallen  into  the  channel. 
The  bottom  of  the  chasm,  therefore,  must  be  more  than  a 
hundred  feet  lower,  since  the  fallen  rocks,  having  tumbled 
down  promiscuously,  must  occupy  much  more  space,  than 
they  did  in  their  original  bed.  There  are  isolated  points, 
as  at  the  Whirlpool  and  Devil's  Hole,  where  the  river  is 
wider  than  in  any  part  of  this  section,  but  the  depth  is 


»ii( 


Geology. 


6i 


ir 


less.  Taking  into  consideration  both  depth  and  width, 
this  is  the  finest  part  of  the  chasm.  And  for  this  reason 
chiefly,  when  the  great  Cataract  was  at  a  point  about  one 
hundred  rods  below  the  upper  Bridge,  it  must  have  pre- 
sented its  sublimest  aspect.  The  secondary  bank  on 
each  side  of  the  river,  is  here  high  and  firm,  whereby  the 
whole  mass  of  water  must  have  been  concentrated  into 
a  single  channel  of  greater  depth  at  the  top  of  the  Fall 
than  it  could  have  had  at  any  other  point.  And  here  the 
mighty  column  exerted  its  most  terrific  force,  rolling  over 
the  precipice  in  one  broad,  vertical  curve,  water  falling 
into  water  and  lifting  up,  perpetually,  that  snowy  veil  of 
mist  and  spray  which  constitute,  at  any  point,  its  crown- 
ing beauty.  Deep  calleth  unto  deep,  in  the  storms, 
around  the  capes  and  amidst  the  caves  of  the  ocean,  but 
nowhere  with  a  voice  so  continuous,  majestic  and  solemn 
as  might  then  have  been  heard. 

From  near  the  Ferry  stairs  passing  under  the  American 
Falls,  Goat  Island,  the  Horse-Shoe  Fall,  Table  Rock, 
and  for  some  distance  down  the  Canada  bank,  there  is  a 
decided  upward  curve,  and  at  the  same  time  a  softening 
of  the  shale.  To  this  softer  shale  was  due  the  great  m'ey- 
hang  of  the  American  Fall  noticed  by  Father  Hennepin 
and  the  Baron  La  Hontan,  and  of  Table  Rock  while  it 
was  standing.  And  here  a  remarkable  change  occurs  in 
the  physical  features  of  the  locality.  For  three  miles 
above  the  Falls  the  course  of  the  river  is  a  little  north  of 
east,  or  south  of  west  as  the  current  runs.  But  after  leav- 
ing the  precipice  which  sustains  the  present  Fall,  it  makes 
an  acute  angle  with  its  former  direction  and  thence  to  the 


62 


Niagara. 


t 


railway  Suspension  Bridge,  runs  nearly  north-east.  The 
general  trend  of  the  stratified  rocks  is  north-east  and 
south-west,  the  dip  of  the  strata  being  in  the  latter  direc- 
tion. It  is  owing  to  this  fact  that  the  surface  of  the  water 
above  the  Fall  on  the  American  side  is  ten  feet  higher 
than  it  is  on  the  Canadian.  The  continuous  column  of 
water,  however,  is  longer  in  the  centre  of  the  Horse-Shoe 
Fall  because  of  the  fallen  rock  and  debris  lying  at  the 
foot  of  the  other  portions  of  the  Falls.  Keeping  these 
facts  in  mind,  we  shall  properly  understand  the  statement 
generally  made,  that  the  American  is  ten  feet  higher  than 
the  Canadian  Fall. 


CHAPTER  VHI. 


GEOLOGY. 

Recession  above  present  position — Falls  will  be  higher  as 
they  recede — Reason  Why — Possible  new  feature — Present 
and  former  accumulations  of  Rock — How  removed — Ter- 
rific power  of  the  elements — Ice  and  ice  bridges. 

THERE  is  probably  little  foundation  for  the  appre- 
hension which  has  been  expressed  that  the  reces- 
sion of  the  chasm  will  ultimately  reach  Lake  Erie  and 
lower  its  level,  or  that  the  bed  of  the  river  will  be  worn 
into  an  inclined  plane  by  gradual  detrition,  thus  changing 
the  perpendicular  Fall  into  a  tumultuous  rapid.  And  for 
these  reasons,  namely  :  First,  that  the  contour  or  periph- 


:^- 


z^:'' 


J 


yr 


I 


Geology. 


63 


ery  of  the  fall  in  its  present  location  is  much  greater 
than  it  could  have  been  at  any  point  below.  Conse- 
(juently  a  much  less  body  of  water  and  much  less  effec- 
tive in  force  is  passed  over  any  given  portion  of  the  preci- 
pice, the  current  being  also  divided  by  Goat  and  Luna 
Islands.  Second,  that  the  river  bed  increases  in  width 
above  the  Fall  until  it  reaches  Grand  Island,  which^ 
being  twelve  miles  in  length  by  eight  in  width,  divides  the 
river  into  two  broad  channels,  thus  still  further  diminish- 
ing the  weight  and  force  of  the  falling  water.  The  average 
width  of  the  channel  from  Lewiston  upward,  is  one  thou- 
sand feet.  The  present  periphery  of  the  Falls  and  Is- 
lands is  four  thousand  two  hundred  feet.  Of  course  the 
water  concentrated  in  mass  and  force  below  the  present 
Falls  must  have  proved  vastly  more  effective  in  disin- 
tegrating and  breaking  down  the  shale  and  limestone 
than  it  possibly  can  be  at  any  point  above. 

But  long  continued  observation  of  the  locality  enables 
the  writer  to  offer  still  other  reasons  why  the  Fall  will 
never  dwindle  down  to  a  rapid.  As  has  already  been 
noticed,  the  course  of  the  river  above  the  present  Fall  is 
a  little  south  of  west,  so  that  it  flows  across  the  trend  of 
the  bed-rock.  Hence,  as  the  Falls  recede  there  can  be 
no  diminution  in  their  altitude  resulting  from  the  dip  of 
this  rock.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  a  rise  of  fifty  feet  to 
the  head  of  the  present  rapids,  and  a  further  rise  of 
twenty  feet  to  the  level  of  Lake  Erie.  During  the  last 
two  years  (187 1-2)  the  bed  of  the  river  from  Buffalo 
to  Cayuga  Creek  has  been  thoroughly  examined  for  the 
purpose  of  locating   piers  for  railway  bridges  over  the 


64 


Niagara. 


I 


stream.  The  greatest  depth  at  which  they  found  the 
rock — ^just  below  Black  Rock  dam — was  forty-five  feet. 
Generally  the  rock  was  found  to  be  only  twenty  to  twenty- 
five  feet  below  the  surface  of  the  water. 

About  five  miles  alcove  the  present  Falls  there  is,  in 
the  bottom  of  the  river,  a  shelf  of  rock  stretching,  in 
nearly  a  straight  line,  across  the  channel  to  Grand  Island 
and  having,  apparently,  a  perpendicular  face  about  six- 
teen inches  deep.  Its  presence  is  indicated  by  a  short 
but  decided  curve  in  the  surface  of  the  water  above  it, 
the  water  itf.elf  varying  in  depth  from  eleven  to  sixteen 
feet.  The  shelf  above  referred  to  extends  under  Grand 
Island  and  across  the  Canada  channel  of  the  river,  under 
which,  however,  its  face  is  no  longer  perpendicular.  If 
the  P'alls  were  at  this  point  they  would  be  fifty-five  feet 
higher  than  they  arc  now,  supposing  the  bed-rock  to  be 
firm.  Now,  by  excavations  made  during  the  last  year 
(1870)  for  the  new  railway  from  Suspension  Bridge  to 
Buffalo,  the  surface  rock  has  been  found  to  be  compact 
and  hard,  much  of  it  unusually  so.  As  a  general  rule  it 
is  well  known  that  the  greater  the  depth  at  which  any 
given  kind  of  rock  lies  below  the  surface,  and  the  greater 
the  depth  to  which  it  is  penetrated,  the  more  compact 
and  hard  it  will  be  found  to  be.  The  rock  which  was 
found  to  be  so  hard,  in  excavating  for  the  railway,  lies 
within  six  feet  ot  the  surface.  The  deepest  water  in  the 
Niagara  river  between  the  Falls  and  Buffalo  is  twenty-five 
feet.  At  this  point,  then,  it  would  seem  that  the  shale  of 
the  Niagara  group  must  be  at  such  a  depth  that  the  top 
of  it  is  below  the  surface  of  the  water  at  the  bottom  of  the 


GeoloQ^y. 


65 


present  Fall.  Hence,  being  protected  from  the  disin- 
tegrating action  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  incessant 
chiseling  of  the  dashing  spray,  it  would  make  a  firm  foun- 
dation for  the  hard  limestone  which  would  form  the  per- 
pendicular ledge  over  which  the  water  would  fall.  Sup- 
posing the  bottom  of  the  channel  below  this  fall  to  have 
the  same  declivity  as  that  for  a  mile  below  the  present 
fall,  the  then  Cataract  would  be,  as  has  been  before 
stated,  fifty-five  feet  higher  than  the  present  one.  If  we 
should  allow  fifty  feet  for  a  soft  surface  limestone,  full  of 
cleavages  and  seams  which  might  be  easily  broken  down, 
still  the  new  fall  would  be  five  feet  higher  than  the  old 
one.  But,  so  far  as  can  now  be  discovered,  there  is  no 
geological  necessity,  so  to  speak,  for  making  any  such 
allowance.  In  the  new  Cataract  the  American  Fall  would 
still  be  the  highest,  and  its  line  across  the  channel  quite 
straight  The  Canadian  Fall  would  undoubtedly  present 
a  curve,  but  more  gradual  and  uniform  than  the  present 
horse-shoe. 

But  there  might  possibly  occur  one  new  feature  in  the 
chasm-channel  of  the  river  as  the  result  of  any  future  re- 
cession. That  would  be  the  presence  in  that  channel  of 
rocky  islands,  similar  to  that  which  has  already  formed 
just  below  the  American  Fall.  The  points  at  which 
these  islands  would  be  likely  to  form  are  those  where  tiie 
indurated  rock  of  either  the  Medina  or  the  Niagara  group 
lies  near  the  surface  of  the  water.  This  probably  was  tiie 
case  at  the  narrow  bend  below  the  Whirlpool,  before 
noticed,  and  from  thence  up  to  the  outlet  of  the  pool. 
After  considering  what  must  have  occurred  in  the  last 


-ai 


66 


Niagara. 


case,  we  may  form  some  opinion  concerning  the  proba- 
bilities in  reference  to  the  first. 

We  can  hardly  resist  the  conclusion,  that  masses  of 
fallen  rock  must  have  accumulated  below  the  Whirlpool 
as  we  now  see  them  under  the  American  Fall.  But  if  so, 
where  are  they  ?  The  answer  to  this  (juestion  brings  us 
to  the  consideration  of  the  mot.t  remarkable  phenomenon 
connected  with  this  wonderful  river.  'I'o  the  beholder  it 
is  matter  of  astonishment  what  can  have  become  of  the 
great  mass  of  earth,  rock,  gravel  and  boulders,  large  and 
small,  which  once  filled  the  immense  chasm  that  lies  below 
him.  He  learns  that  the  water  for  a  mile  below  the  Falls 
is  one  hundred  feet  deep,  and  flows  over  a  mass  of  fallen 
rock  and  stone  of  ecjual  depth  lying  below  it  ;  he  sees  a 
chasm  of  nearly  double  these  dimensions,  more  than  half 
of  which  was  once  filled  with  solid  rock  ;  he  beholds  the 
large  quantities  which  have  already  fallen,  which  are  still 
defiant,  still  breasting  the  ceaseless  hammering  of  the  de- 
scending flood.  For  centuries  past  this  process  has  been 
going  on  until  a  chasm  seven  miles  long,  a  thousand  feet 
wide  and,  including  the  secondary  banks,  more  than  three 
hundred  feet  deej),  has  been  excavated,  and  the  material 
which  filled  it  entirely  removed.  How  ?  Hy  what  ? 
Frost  was  the  agent,  ick  was  his  delver,  watkr  his 
carriti,  md  the  basin  of  Lake  ( )ntario  his  dumping  ground. 
Whatever  is  may  have  been  ;  and  although  it  is  not 
probable  that  any  islands  similar  to  (lOat  Island  have  ex- 
isted in  the  channel  from  Lewiston  ujnvard,  still  it  is 
probable  that  when  the  Fall  receded  from  the  rocky  ( ape 
below  the  Whirlpool  up  to  the  pool,  it  left  masses  of  rock, 


Geology. 


67 


large  and  small,  lying  on  the  rocky  floor  and  projecting 
above  the  surface  of  the  water.  As  there  were  no  islands 
above,  there  were  no  broken,  tumultuous  rapids.  As  has 
been  before  remarked,  the  water  poured  over  in  one 
broad,  deep,  resistless  flood.  When  frozen  by  the  intense 
cold  of  winter  the  great  cakes  of  ice  would  descend  with 
crushing  force  on  these  rocks.  The  smaller  ones  would 
be  broken,  pulverized  and  swept  down  stream  ;  the  chan- 
nel for  the  water  would  be  gradually  enlarged,  and  the 
larger  masses  thus  partially  undermined.  Then  the  spray 
and  dashing  water  would  freeze  and  the  ice  accumulate 
upon  them  until  they  were  toppled  over.  Then  the  fall- 
ing ice  would  recommence  its  chipping  labours,  and  with 
every  piece  of  ice  knocked  ofl"  a  portion  of  the  rock  would 
go  with  it.  Finally  as  the  cold  continued,  the  master  force, 
the  mightiest  of  mechanical  powers  would  be  brought  into 
action.  The  vast  quantities  of  ice  pouring  over  the  preci- 
pice would  freeze  together,  agglomerate  and  form  an  ice- 
bridge.  The  roof  being  formed,  the  succeeding  cakes  of 
ice  are  drawn  under  and,  raising  it,  are  frozen  to  it.  This 
process  goes  on.  Every  piece  of  rock  above  and  below 
the  surface  is  embraced  in  a  relentless  icy  grip.  Milliot.s 
of  tons  are  frozen  fast  together.  The  water  and  ice  con- 
tinue to  plunge  over  the  precipice.  The  principle  of  the 
hydrostatic  press  is  made  effective.  Then  commences  a 
crushing  and  grinding  process  which  is  perfectly  terrific. 
Under  the  resistless  pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  it,  the 
huge  mass  moves  half  an  inch  in  one  direction  and  an 
hundred  cubic  feet  of  rock  are  crushed  to  powder.  There 
is  a  pause,     'i'hen  again  the  immense  structure  moves 


«p 


^pSil^MI 


68 


Niagara. 


i 


half  an  inch  another  way,  and  once  more  the  crumbling 
atoms  attest  its  awful  power.  This  goes  on  for  weeks 
continuously.  Finally  the  temperature  changes.  The 
sun-light  becomes  potent ;  the  ice  ceases  to  form ;  the 
warm  rays  loosen  the  grip  of  the  ice-bridge  along  the  bor- 
ders of  the  chasm  below.  The  water  becomes  more 
abundant ;  the  bridge  rises,  bringing  in  its  icy  grasp 
whatever  it  had  attached  itself  to  beneath  ;  it  breaks  up 
into  masses  of  different  dimensions  ;  each  mass  starts 
downward  with  the  growing  current,  breaking  down  or 
filing  off  everything  with  which  it  comes  in  contact.  The 
smaller  bits  and  finer  particles,  after  filling  the  interstices 
between  the  larger  rocks  in  the  bottom  of  the  chasm,  are 
borne  lakeward.  The  heavier  portions  make  a  part  of 
the  journey  this  year  ;  vhey  will  make  another  part  next 
year,  and  another  the  ni^xt,  being  constantly  disintegrated 
and  pulverized.  This  work  has  been  going  on  for  many 
centuries.  The  result  is  seen  in  the  vast  bar  of  unknown 
depth  which  is  spread  over  the  bottom  of  Lake  Ontario 
around  the  mouth  of  the  river. 


!' 

hi     1 


IW'       - 


y 


^,,/,,./'/''^y'   ^  ■ 


T 


V* 


>^;-> 


Geology. 


69- 


CHAPTER  IX. 


GEOLOGY. 


Niagara  in  winter — Frozen  spray — Ice  foliage  and  ice  apples 
— Frozen  sunlight — Frozen  rainbows — Ice-moss — Frozen 
fog — Rataplan  of  icicles — Ice  islands — Ice  statues — Sleigh- 
riding  on  American  rapids — Boys  coasting  on  them — Ice 
gorge — Ice  pulling  up  trees — Remarkable  geognosy  of 
earth's  surface — Bottom  of  Lake  Huron  below  tide  water.. 

WHOSO  hath  seen  Niagara  in  summer  only,  has  but 
half  seen  it.  In  winter  its  beauties  are  not  diminish- 
ed, while  the  accessories  to  its  sublimity  are  numerous  and 
varied.  After  two  or  three  weeks  of  intensely  cold  weather 
many  beautiful  and  fantastic  scenes  are  presented  around 
the  Falls.  The  different  varieties  of  stalactites  and  stalag- 
mites hanging  from  or  apparently  supporting  the  project- 
ing rocks  along  the  side  walls  of  the  deep  chasm  ;  the  ice 
islands  which  grow  on  the  bars  and  around  the  rocks  in 
the  river  ;  the  white  caps  and  hoods  which  are  formed  on 
the  rocks  below  ;  the  fanciful  statuary  and  statuesque 
forms  which  gather  on  and  around  the  trees  and  bushes,  are 
all  curious  and  interesting.  Exceedingly  beautiful  are 
the  white  vestments  of  frozen  spray  with  which  every 
thing  in  the  immediate  vicinity  is  robed  and  shielded  ; 
and  beautiful  too  are  the  clusters  of  ice  apples  which  tip 
the  extremities  of  the  branches  of  the  evergreen  trees. 


70 


Niagara. 


There  is  something  marvellous  in  the  purity  and  ivhitc- 
ncss  of  congealed  spray.     One  might  think  it  to  be  frozen 
sunlight.      And  when  by  reason  of  an  angle  or  a  curve 
it  is  thrown  into  shadow,  one  sees  where  the  rainbow  has 
been  caught  and  frozen  in.   After  a  day  of  sunshine  which 
has  been  sufficiently  warm  to  fill  the  atmosphere  with 
aqueous  vapor,  if  a  sharp,  still,  cold  night  succeed,  and 
on  this  there  break  a  clear,  calm  morning,  the  scene  pre- 
sented is  one  of  unique  and  enchanting  beauty.     The 
frozen  spray  on  every  boll,  limb  and  twig  of  tree  and 
shrub,  on  every  stiffened  blade  of  grass,  on  every  rigid 
stem  and  tendril  of  every  trailing  vine,   is  covered  over 
with  a  fine  white  powder,  a  frosty  bloom,  from  which 
there  springs  a  line  of  delicate  frost-spines,  forming  a  per- 
fect fringe  of  ice-moss,  than  which  nothing  more  fanciful 
and  beautiful  can  be  imagined.     Then  as  the  day  advan- 
ces and  the  increasing  warmth  of  the  sun's  rays  dissolves 
this  fairy  frost-work  and  s])reads  it  as  a  delicate  varnish 
over  the  solid  spray,  giving  it  a  brilliant  polish  rivaling 
the  lustre  of  the  rarest  gems  ;  and  as  the  mid-moming 
breeze  sets  in  motion  this  flashing,  dazzling  forest,  whicii 
varies  its  color  as  the  sunlight-angle  varies  ;  and  finally 
when  the  waxing  warmth  and  growing  breeze  loosen  the 
hold  of  the  icy  covering  in  the  tree-tops  and  it  drops  to 
the  still  solid  surface  in  the  shade  beneath,  the  tiny  par- 
ticles with  a  silver  tinkle  and  the  larger  pieces  with  the 
sharp,  rattling  sound  of  the  castenet,  the  ear  is  charmed 
with  a  wild,  dashing  rataplan^  while  a  scene  of  strange 
but  veritable  enchantment  challenges  the  admiration  of 
the  spectator. 


Geology. 


71 


Even  more  beautiful  and  fairy-like,  if  possible,  is  the 
garment  q{ frozen  fog,  with  which  all  external  objects  are 
adorned  and  etherealized  when  the  spring  advances,  and 
the  temperature  of  the  water  is  raised.  As  the  sharp, 
still  night  wears  on,  the  light  mists  begin  to  rise,  and 
when  the  morning  breaks,  the  river  is  buried  in  a  deep, 
dense  bank  of  fog.  A  gentle  wave  of  air  bears  it  land- 
ward ;  its  progress  is  stayed  by  every  thing  with  which  it 
comes  in  contact,  and  as  soon  as  its  motion  is  arrested, 
it  freezes  sufficiently  to  adhere  to  whatever  it  touches.  So 
it  grows  upon  itself,  and  all  things  are  soon  covered  half 
an  inch  in  depth  with  a  most  delicate  and  fragile  fringe  of 
frozen  fog  of  intensest  whiteness.  The  morning  sun  dis- 
pels the  mist,  and  in  an  hour  the  gay  frost-work  vanishes. 

The  ice  islands  are  sometimes  quite  extensive.  In  the 
year  1856  the  whole  of  the  rocky  bar  above  Goat  Island 
was  covered  with  ice,  piled  together  in  a  rough  heap,  the 
lower  end  of  which  rested  on  Goat  Island,  and  the  three 
Moss  Islands  lying  outside  of  it,  all  of  which  were  visited 
by  different  persons  passing  over  this  new  route.  The  ice 
formed  on  the  rocks  below  the  American  Fall,  stretched  up- 
ward, reached  the  edge  of  the  precipice  just  north  of  the 
Little  Horse-shoe,  continued  up  stream  above  Chapin's 
Island,  spread  out  laterally  from  that  to  Goat  Island  on  the 
south,  and  over  nearly  half  of  the  American  rapids  to  the 
north.  At  the  brow  of  the  j>recipice  it  accumulated  upward 
until  it  formed  a  ridge  some  forty  feet  high.  Some  fifteen 
rods  up  stream  another  ridge  was  formed  about  half  the 
height  of  the  first.  Every  rock  projecting  upward  bore  an 
immence  ice  cap.  Around  and  between  these  mounds  and 


72 


Niagara. 


v  I 


caps  the  sporting  equestrians  drove  their  horses,  albeit 
the  course  was  not  favorable  for  quick  time.  The  boys 
drew  their  sleds  to  the  top  of  the  large  mound,  slid  dowtt' 
it,  up  stream,  and  nearly  to  the  top  of  the  smaller  hill. — 
On  the  lower,  or  down  stream  side,  they  would  have  had 
a  clear  course  to  the  water  below,  and  might  have  made 
"  time,"  compared  with  which  Dexter's  minimum  would 
have  seemed  only  a  funeral  march.  But  with  all  Young 
America's  passion  for  speed,  he  declined  to  try  this  route. 
The  writer  walked  over  the  south  end  of  Luna  Island, 
above  the  tops  of  the  trees. 

The  ice  bridge  of  that  year  filled  the  whole  chasm  from 
the  railway  Susjiension  Bridge  up  past  the  American 
Fall.  When  the  ice  broke  up  in  the  spring,  such  im- 
mense quantities  were  carried  down  that,  on  the  occur- 
rence of  a  strong  northerly  wind  across  Lake  Ontario,  a 
jam  occured  at  Fort  Niagara.  The  ice  accumulated  and 
set  back  until  it  reached  the  Whirl])ool,  and  could  be 
crossed  at  any  point  between  it  and  the  Fort.  It  was- 
lifted  up  about  sixty  feet  above  the  surface,  and  spread 
out  over  both  shores,  crushing  and  destroying  every  thing 
with  which  it  came  in  contact.  Many  persons  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country  visited  the  extraordinary  scene. 
At  Lewiston  the  writer,  with  many  others,  saw  a  most 
remarkable  illustration  of  the  almost  omnipotent  power  of 
the  hydrostatic  press.  Just  below  the  village,  on  the 
American  side,  there  stood,  about  two  rods  from  high- 
water  mark,  a  sound,  thrifty,  tough  white-oak  tree,  per- 
haps a  hundred  years  old,  and  two  feet  in  diameter. 
The  ice,  moved  by  the  water,  struck  it  near  the  ground 


I 


J 


Geology.  y2> 

and  pressed  it  outward  and  upward,  until  it  actually  pulled 
it  up  by  the  roots, — or  rather  broke  off  some  of  the  roots 
and  pulled  out  others, — and  landed  it  twenty  feet  up  the 
bank.  Those  who  watched  the  operation  stated,  that 
from  the  time  the  ice  touched  the  tree,  until  it  was  landed 
on  the  bank  above,  the  motion  of  the  ice  could  not  be  de- 
tected by  the  eye.  Slowly,  steadily,  surely  it  pressed  on. 
Suddenly  there  would  be  an  explosion,  sharp  and  loud, 
when  a  root  gave  way.  No  motion  in  the  ice  or  tree 
could  be  discovered.  After  a  lapse  of  two  or  three  hours 
another  sharp  crack  would  give  notice  oi  another  fracture. 
Thus  it  went  gradually  on,  and  in  ten  hours  the  work  was 
done.  Invisible  was  that  motion,  yet  invincible  was 
its  force.  A  thousandth  part  of  this  would  pulverize  a 
boulder  of  adamant.  We  need  not  wonder  that  the  river 
Niagara  keeps  its  channel  clear.  In  the  ice  gorge  of 
1 866  the  ice  was  set  back  to  the  upper  end  of  the  Whirl- 
pool, over  which  it  was  twenty  feet  deep.  I'he  Whirlpool 
rapid  was  subdued  nearly  to  an  unbroken  current,  and 
all  below  to  Lake  Ontario  was  reduced  to  a  gentle  flow  of 
(juiet  waters.  Never  was  there  a  sublimer  contest  of  the 
great  forces  of  nature.  The  frost  laid  its  hand  upon  the 
raging  torrent  and  it  was  still. 

And  finally,  to  the  force  we  have  been  considering, 
more  than  to  any  other,  it  is  probable  that  all  the  coming 
generations  of  men  will  be  indebted  for  a  grand  and  per- 
pendicular Fall  somewhere  between  its  present  location 
and  Lake  St.  Clair ;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
bottom  of  Lake  Erie  is  but  fourteen  feet  loiver  than  the  top 
of  the  present  Fall,  and  the  bottom  of  Lake  St.  Clair  is 


1 


JU. 


74 


Niagara, 


\\\ 


rh 


11 


eighteen  feet  higher.  It  may  also  be  considered  that  the 
corniforoiis  limestone  of  the  Onondaga  group, — which 
succeeds  the  Niagara  group  as  we  a[)proach  Lake  F.rie, — 
is  quite  as  competent  to  maintain  a  perpendicular  face  as 
is  the  limestone  of  the  latter  group. 

We  may  here  ap])ropriately  notice  a  remarkable  feature 
in  the  (ieogno.sy  of  the  earth's  surface  from  Lake  Huron 
to  the  (Julf  of  St.  Lawrence.     We  have  before  stated  that 
the  elevation  of  that  lake  above  tide-water  is  five  hundred 
and  seventy-eight  feet.     But  its  depth,  according  to  Dr. 
Houghton,  is  one  thousand  feet.     If  this  statement  is  cor- 
rect, the  bottom  of  it  is  four  hundred  and  twenty-two  feel 
/vM' the  sea  level.     The  elevation  of  Lake  St.  Clair  is 
five  hundred  and  seventy   feet.      liut  its  depth  is  only 
twenty  feet,  leaving  its  bottom  five  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
abiYi'c  the  sea  level.     The  elevation  of  Lake  Erie  is  five 
hundred  and  sixty-eight  feet.     Hut  it  is  only  eighty-four 
feet  deep,  making  it  four  hundred  and   eighty-four  feet 
above  >i}ciQ  sea  level.     From   Lake  Erie  to  Lake  Ontario 
there  is  a  descent  of  three  hundred  and  thirty-six  feet. 
But  the  latter  lake  is  five  hundred  feet  deep,  and  its  ele- 
vation two  hundred  and  thirty-two  feet.     Hence  the  bot- 
tom of  it  is  two  hundred  and  sixty-eight  feet  below  the 
sea  level.     From  the  foot  of  Lake  Ontario  runs  the  St. 
Lawrence  river,  eight  hundred  and  twenty  miles  to  tide 
water,  falling  two  hundred  and  thirty-two  feet  in  this  dis- 
tance.    The  facts  will  be  at  once  understood  by  referring 
to  the  diagram  given  on  the  map,  the  base  of  the  triangle 
being  diminished  for  convenience.     The  hypothcnuse  is 
fifteen  hundred  miles  long,  and  the  water  from  the  springs 


Geology. 


75 


in  the  bottom  of  Lake  Huron  is  compelled  to  climb  a 
mountain  nine  hundred  and  eighty  feet  high  before  it  can 
start  on  this  long  oceanward  journey.  It  may  also  be 
noticed  that  the  bottom  of  Lake  Michigan,  which  has  the 
same  depth  as  Lake  Huron,  is  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
two  feet  below  the  low-water  line  of  the  Ohio  at  its  mouth, 
as  may  be  seen  by  reference  to  the  survey  of  the  Illinois 
Central  Rail-road,  heretofore  given. 


)    I 


PART    THIRD. 


CHAPTER  X. 


If 


LOCAL    HISIORY    AND    INCIDENTS. 

ji.Jge  Torter-  General  Porter — Goat  Island  —  Origin  of 
its  name  -  Its  diminution  —  Early  dates  found  on 
Trees  and  in  Rock — Visited  by  the  Indians— Kalm's 
Wonderful  story — Bridges  to  the  Island — Method  of 
Construction  —  Red  Jacket -Anecdotes — Stone  Tower  — 
Hiddlc  Stairs — Sam  Patch — Depth  of  Water  on  the 
Horse-Shoe —  Ships  sent  over  the  Falls  —  Animals  on 
board. 

T}iE  writer  is  well  aware  how  much  he  violates  the 
unities  by  mingling  together  the  elements  of  the  His- 
toric, Geologic  and  Narrative  portions  of  his  composition. 
But  he  has  preferred  to  string  his  shells  as  he  found  them 
and  to  record  the  impressions  they  suggested  at  the  time, 
rather  than  to  classify  and  arrange  them  for  more  elaborate 
description  and  discussion.  The  subject  is  indeed  a 
flowing  one,  and  some  embarrassment  arises  in  deciding 
what  to  select,  and  where  to  stop. 

In  addition  to  the  authorities  to  which  the  writer  has 
been  so  greatly  indebted  in  preparing  this  narrative,  he 
has  had  the  good  fortune  to  listen  to  many  oral  relations 


I 


History  a7id  Incidents. 


11 


of  facts  and  incidents  by  two  distinguished  citizens,*whose 
names  are  intimately  and  honorably  connected  with  tlie 
more  recent  history,  not  only  of  this  particular  locality 
but  with  that  of  the  whole  State. 

Judge  Porter,  after  having  spent  several  years  in  survey- 
ing and  lotting  large  portions  of  the  territory  of  Western 
New  York  and  the  Western  Reserve  in  Ohio,  came  from 
Canandaigua  to  Niagara  Falls  with  his  family  in  June. 
iSo6,  where  he  continued  to  live  until  his  death,  nearly 
fifty  years  afterwards. 

Gen.  Porter  settled  as  a  lawyer  at  Canandaigua  in 
1795,  removed  to  Black  Rock  in  18 10,  and  to  Niagara 
Falls  in  1838. 

In  1806  the  two  brothers  became  interested  with  others 
in  the  purchase  from  the  State  of  New  York  of  four  lots 
in  the  Mile  Strip  lying  both  above  and  below  the  Falls. 
A  few  years  later  they  purchased  not  only  the  interest  of 
their  partners  in  these  lots,  Init  other  lands  at  different 
points  along  this  Strip.  In  18 14  they  bought  of  Samuel 
Sherwood  a  paper,  since  named  a  float,  an  instrument 
given  by  the  State  authorizing  the  hearer  to  locate  two 
hundred  acres  of  any  of  the  unsold  or  unappropriated 
lands  belonging  to  the  State.  This  float  they  fortunately 
anchored  on  Goat  Island  and  the  islands  adjacent  thereto, 
lying  "immediately  above  and  adjoining  the  Great 
Falls."  The  wherefore  of  the  name  of  the  larger  island 
is  as  follows.     Mr.   John  Stedman  who  came  into  tht 

*  The  late  Judge  Augustus  Porter  and  the  late  General  Peter  V>. 
Porter. 


J 


ar 


J 


78 


Niagara, 


country  in  1 760,  had  cleaned  a  portion  of  the  upper  end 
of  the  island,  and  in  the  summer  of  1779,  he  placed  on 
it  a  few  small  animals.     Chief  among  these  was  an  aged 
and  very  dignified  male  goat.     The   following  winter  was 
very  severe,  navigation  to  the  Island  was  impracticable 
and  he  fell  a  victim  to  the  intense  cold.     For  a  time  he 
was,  like  Juan  Fernandez,  "  monarch  of  all  he  surveyed' 
and  like  him  he  left  his  name  to  his  water-bound  home. 
By  the  terms  of  the  Treaty  of  (Ihent,  18 15,  the  boun- 
dary line  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  on 
the  Niagara   Frontier,  was  to  run   through  the  deepest 
water  along  the  river  courses  and  through  the  centre  of 
the  great  lakes.      As  the  deepest  water,  at  this  point,  is 
in  the  center  of  the  Horse-shoe  Fall,  the  islands  in  the 
river  fell  to  the  Americans,     (ieneral  Porter,  acting  as 
Commissioner  for  the  United  States,  proposed  to  call  the 
largest  one    Iris    Island,  and  it  was   so  printed  on  the 
boundary  mai)s.     Hut  the  i)ubli(  adhered  to  the  old  name, 
refusing  to  adopt  the  new  one.     So  the  (ioat,  being  dead, 
still    speaketh,  or    rather  is  spoken,    while  the  heathen 
(ioddess  is  visible  in  her  beautiful  hues,  which  may  be 
accepted  as  a  fair  division  of  the  honors.     One  of  the 
early    chronicles    states    that   the   island  contained   two 
hundred  and  fifty  acres  of  land.     At   the   present  time 
there  are  in   it  less  than  seventy.     A  strij)  some  ten  rods 
wide  by  eighty  rods  long  has  been  worn  away  from  the 
southern  side  of  it  since  1818,  when  Judge   Porter  made 
the  first  road  around  it.     The  earliest  date  he  found  on  it 
was  1765  carved  on  a  beech  tree.     'Ihe  earliest  date  cut 
in  the  rock  on  the  main  land  was   1645.     Human  bones 


\ 


History  and  Incidents. 


79 


and  arrow-heads  were  found  on  the  island.  The  Indians 
went  to  it  with  their  canoes  which  they  paddled  up  and 
down  in  the  comparatively  quiet  water  lying  on  the  rocky 
bar  which  extends  upward  nearly  a  mile  above  the  head 
of  the  island. 

Notwithstanding    this    fact,    the    Swedish    Naturalist, 
Kalm,  who  visited  the  place  in  i  750,  relates  afabulous  story 
of  two    Indians,  who,  on  a  hunting  excursion  above  the 
Falls,  drank  too  freely  from  "two  bottles  of  French  brandy"' 
which  they  brought  from  Fort  Xiagara  ;  got  sleepy  and  laid 
themselves  down  in  the  bottom  of  their  canoe  for  a  nap. 
The  canoe  swung  off  shore   and   floated   down  stream. 
.\earing  the  rapids  the  noise  awakened  one  of  them  who 
had   apparently    been    more   fortunate   in    learning    the 
English  language  from  the  French  than  most  of  his  tribe, 
for  seeing  their  perilous  situation  he  exclaimed,  "  we  are 
gone."      Hut   ti.e    two   plied   their  paddles    with    sucii 
aboriginal  vigor,  that  they  succeeded  in  landing  on  (loat 
Island.      From  the  se(|uel  it  would  seem  that   they  must 
have  destroyed  or  lost  their  canoe.      Finding  no  houses  of 
refreshment,  nor  cairns  of  stores  left  by  former  explortrrs, 
and    most    naturally   getting    hungry,  they  concluded  it 
would    be    desirable    to   get   back    to   the   I'ort,    a   wish 
more  easily  expressed  than  accomplished. 

But  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  "  do  or  die."  So,  as 
the  story  runs,  they  stripi)ed  the  bark  from  the  basswood 
trees,  and  with  it  made  a  ladder  long  enough  to  reach 
from  a  tree  standing  on  the  edge  of  the  pre(ii)i.:c  at  the 
foot  of  the  island  down  to  the  water  below.  They  prob 
ably  did  not  waste  any  time  in  discussing  the  Darwinian 


1 


-J- 


80 


Niagara^ 


question  of  natural  selection,  nor  puzzle  their  brains  to 
determine  which  species  of  the  genus  simiidae  might  be 
responsible  for  their  origin  ;  but  practically  they  must 
have  done  climbing  enough,  in  order  to  loosen  the  top 
ends  of  their  basswood  strips,  to  vindicate  their  claim  to 
a  monkey  i)aternity.  After  dropping  their  ladder  they 
followed  it  downward.  Reaching  the  water  and  being 
good  swimmers,  they  plunged  in  with  great  glee,  expect- 
ing to  be  able  to  swim  across  to  the  opposite  shore,  which 
they  could  easily  climb.  But  the  counter-current  forced 
them  back  to  the  island.  After  being  a  good  deal  bruised 
on  the  rocks,  they  were  compelled  to  abandon  the  at- 
tempt to  cross,  and  then  rennned  up  their  ladder  to  the 
Island.  There,  after  much  whooping,  they  attracted  the 
notice  of  other  Indian^  on  the  shore.  'I'hese  reported 
their  position  at  the  fort,  and  the  commandant  sent  up  a 
party  of  whites  and  Indians  to  rescue  them.  They 
brought  with  them  four  light  })ike  poles,  doing  to  the 
head  of  the  Island,  they  exchanged  salutations  with  the 
new  Crusoes,  and  began  preparations  for  their  re.scue. 
Two  Indians  volunteered  to  undertake  the  task.  "They 
took  leave  of  all  their  friends  as  if  they  were  going  to  the 
death."  Each  Indian  rescuer,  according  to  the  wondrous 
fable,  took  two  pike-poles  and  waded  across  the  channel 
to  the  island,  gave  each  of  the  Crusoes  a  pike-j)ole,  and 
then  the  four  waded  back  to  th(>  mainland,  where  they 
were  joyfully  received  by  their  anxious,  wailing  friends, 
after  having  been  "nine  days  on  the  island."  Remem- 
bering that  the  water  in  mid-channel  is  twelve  feet  deep, 
with  a  twehc-mile  rurrciu,  we  must  concede  this  to  be  the 


History  and  Incidents. 


8i 


to 

be 

ust 

Loi) 

to 


I 


most  marvellous  of  all  a(juatic  achievements.  If  the 
illustrious  Munchausen  had  been  a  reality  and  not  a 
fiction,  and  if  he  could  have  appeared  either  in  the  flesh 
or  out  of  it  to  the  credulous  Swede  after  he  had  finish  ;d 
this  recital,  we  cannot  doubt  that  he  would,  in  the  most 
graceful  manner,  have  surrendered  his  sceptre — ])robably 
a  loti}!^  bow — to  his  new  disciple.  And  yet  so  grave  a 
work  as  the  "  Encyclopedia  Brittanica,"  in  the  article  on 
"  Niagara  Falls,"  gives  a  large  space  to  this  extraordinary 
narrative. 

In  1817  Judge  Porter  built  the  first  bridge  to  Goat 
Island,  about  forty  rods  above  the  present  bridge.  In  the 
following  sj)ring  the  large  cakes  of  ice  from  the  river 
above,  not  being  sufficiently  broken  up  by  the  short  por- 
tion of  rapids  through  which  they  passed,  and  being 
hurled  against  the  bridge  with  terrific  force,  it  was 
mostly  carried  away.  With  the  courage  and  enterprise 
of  his  race — of  course  he  was  a  New  Englander — the  next 
season  he  constructed  another  bridge  lower  down,  on  the 
present  site,  rightly  judging  that  the  ice  would  be  so  much 
broken  up  before  reaching  it,  as  to  be  harmless.  That 
bridge,  with  constant  repairs  and  one  ;ilmost  entire  re- 
newal, stO'^d  firm  in  u-  place  until  the  year  1856,  when  it 
was  rr-mo\ed  to  make  room  ror  the  present  iron  bridge. 
The  old  piers  were  much  enlarged  and  strength  -ned,  and 
also  raised  about  three  feet  higher  to  receive  the  new 
bridge.  As  nearly  every  stranger  intjuires  how  the  first 
bridge  was  carried  over  the  turbulent  waters,  a  brief  de- 
scription of  the  process  may  he  acceptable.  First  a  strong 
bulkher'd  was  built  in  the  shallow  water  next  to  the  shore  , 


^ 


82 


Niagara. 


a  solid  backing  was  put  in  behind  this,  and  the  upper  sur- 
face properly  graded  and  well  floored  with  plank.  Strong 
rollers  were  placed  parallel  with  the  stream,  and  fastened 
to  the  floor.  In  the  old  forest  then  standing  near  by. 
were  many  noble  oaks  of  different  sizes  and  great  length. 
A  number  of  these  were  felled  and  hewed  '  tapering '  as  it 
was  termed,  so  that,  when  finished  they  were  ibout 
eighteen  inches  square  at  the  butt,  fifteen  at  the  top  and 
eighty  feet  long.  Through  the  small  ends  were  bored 
large  auger-holes.  These  sticks  were  placed,  as  required, 
on  the  rollers,  at  right  angles  to  the  stream,  the  small 
ends  over  the  water,  and  the  shore  ends  heavily  weighted 
down.  The  first  stick  being  properly  placed,  le\  ers  were 
applied  to  the  rollers  and  the  stick  run  out  until  the  front 
end  reached  an  eddy  in  the  water.  Then  anotiier  similar 
stick  was  run  out  in  like  manner  parallel  to  the  first,  and 
about  six  feet  from  it.  A  few  light,  strong  planks  were 
placed  across  and  made  fast.  Two  men  were  provided 
each  with  strong,  iron-{)ointed  pike-staffs,  each  start"  having 
in  its  upper  end  a  hole  through  which  was  drawn  some 
ten  feet  of  new  rope.  Thus  provided,  they  walked  out  on 
the  timbers,  drove  their  iron  pikes  down  among  the 
stones  and  tied  them  fast  to  the  timbers.  Thus  the  whole 
[iroblem  was  solved.  Around  these  pike-stafts  the  first 
pier  was  built  and  filled  with  stone.  Then  other  timbers 
were  run  out,  all  were  planked  over  and  the  first  si)an  was 
(  ompleted.  All  the  remaining  spans  were  finished  in  the 
same  way. 

After  the  war,  the  great  Indian  chief  and  orator.   Red 
Jacket,  occasionally  visited  Judge  and  Cleneral  Porter — 


1 


History  and  Incidents, 


S3 


1 


the  latter  then  living  at  Black  Rock.  The  former  told 
this  anecdote  of  the  Chief.  He  visited  the  Falls  while  the 
mechanics  were  stretching  the  timbers  across  the  rapids 
for  the  second  bridge.  He  sat  for  a  long  time  on  a  pile 
of  plank  watching  their  operations.  His  mind  seemed  to 
be  busy  both  with  the  past  and  the  present,  reflecting 
upon  the  grand  empire  his  race  once  possessed,  and  in- 
tensely conscious  of  the  fact  that  it  was  theirs  no  longer. 
Apparently  mortified,  and  vexed  that  its  pale-face  owners 
should  so  successfully  develop  and  improve  it,  he  rose 
from  his  seat  and  uttering  the  well-known  Indian  gut- 
tural '*  Ugh,  Ugh,"  he  added,  and  repeated  "  d — n  Yankee, 
d — n  Yankee ;"  then  gathering  his  blanket-cloak  around 
•him,  with  his  usual  dignity  and  downcast  eyes,  he  slowly 
walked  away,  and  never  returned  to  the  spot. 

Before  parting  with  the  distinguished  Chief,  we  may  be 
permitted  to  repeat  from  the  late  (leneral  Porter,  two 
other  characteristic  anecdotes  of  hiin.  He  lived  not  far 
from  Buffalo,  on  the  Seneca  Reservation,  and  freijuently 
visited  the  late  (leneral  Wadsworth,  at  Geneseo.  Indeed 
his  visits  came  to  be  somewhat  i)erplexing,  for  the  great 
Chief  must  be  entertained  by  the  host  of  the  establish- 
ment wherever  he  went.  He  had  little  affinity  for  juniors^ 
however  distinguished  they  might  be.  He  condescentled 
to  associate  only  with  the  men  of  mark,  with  whom  he 
had  come  in  contact  during  the  exciting  scenes  of  his 
active  life. 

Of  course  he  was  a  "  teetotaler,''  only  in  one  way. 
When  he  got  a  glass  of  good  "  licjuor "  he  drank  the 
whole  of  it.     He  was  very  fond  of  the  rich  apple-juice  of 


\ 


84 


Niagara. 


♦     tilt 


i     1 


the  Geneseo  orchards,  of  which  his  absorbing  capacity 
was  quite  wondrous.  Having  repeated  his  visits  to 
(len.  Wadsworth  at  one  time,  with  rather  inconvenient 
frequency,  and  coming  one  day  when  the  General 
saw  that  he  had  been  drinking  pretty  freely  some 
where  else,  he  concluded  he  would  not  offer  him  the  usual 
refreshments.  In  due  time,  therefore,  he  rose  and  excus- 
ed himself  As  he  was  leaving  the  room  the  orator  said, 
"  (ieneral  hear  !"  "  Well  what,  Red  Jacket,"  lo  which  he 
replied  with  great  gravity,  "  General,  when  I  get  home  to 
my  people,  and  they  ask  me  how  your  cider  tasted^  what 
shall  1  tell  them  V  Of  course  he  won  his  '"'■  pint"  and  re- 
peated it. 

His  determined  and  constant  opposition  to  the  sale  of 
the  lands  belonging  to  the  Indians  is  well  known.  At 
the  Council  held  at  Buffalo  Creek,  in  i8i  i,  he  was  select- 
ed by  the  Indians  to  answer  the  propositions  of  a  New 
York  Land  Company  to  buy  more  land.  The  Indians 
refused  to  sell,  although,  as  usual,  the  comj)any  only 
wanted  "a  small  tract."  To  illustrate  the  system,  after 
the  speech-making  was  over,  Red  Jacket  placed  half-a- 
dozen  Indians  on  a  log,  which  lay  near  by.  They  did 
not  sit  very  close  together  but  had  plenty  of  room.  He 
then  took  a  white  man  who  wanted  "  a  small  tract,"  and 
making  the  Indians  at  one  end  "move  up,"  he  put  the 
white  man  beside  them.  Then  he  brought  another  "  small 
tract "  white  man,  and  making  the  aborigines  "  move 
up  "  once  more,  the  Indian  on  the  end  was  obliged  to  rise 
from  the  log,  He  repeated  this  process  until  but  one  of 
the  original  occupants  was  left  on  the  log.     Then  sudden- 


History  and  Incidents. 


8s 


ly  he  shoved  him  off,  put  a  white  man  in  his  place,  and 
turning  to  the  land  agent  said  :  "  See  what  one  small 
tract  means  \  white  man  «//,  Indian  not/ling^ 

The  strong  round  tower,  which  stands  near  (loat  Island, 
was  built  in  1823,  of  stones  gathered  in  the  vicinity.  It  is 
forty-five  feet  high,  and  twelve  feet  in  diameter  at  the 
base.  The  hardness  and  durability  of  these  stones  are 
abundantly  i)rov(d.  since  the  storms  and  exposure  of  half 
a  century  have  made  no  imi)ression  upon  them.  Yet  be- 
fore the  end  of  the  next  century  the  tower  itself  may  be 
precipitated  into  the  gulf  below. 

The  Biddle  Staircase  was  named  from  Mr.  Nicholas 
Biddle,  of  Philadelphia,  who  contributed  a  sum  of  money 
towards  its  constniction.  It  was  erected  in  1829.  The 
shaft  is  eighty  feet  high,  and  firmly  fastened  to  the  rock. 
The  stairs  are  spiral,  winding  around  it  from  top  to  bot- 
tom. Near  the  foot  of  these  stairs,  at  the  water's  edge, 
the  distinguished  Beotian,  Mr.  Samuel  Patch,  who  wish- 
ed to  demonstrate  to  the  world  that  *'  some  things  could 
be  done  as  well  as  others,"  set  up  a  ladder  one  hundred 
feet  high,  from  which  he  made  two  leaps  into  the  water 
below.  Cioing  thence  to  Rochester,  he  took  another  leap 
near  the  Clenesee  Falls,  which  j)roved  to  be  his  last.  It 
was  for  him  a  leap-year  that  never  returned. 

The  depth  of  water  on  the  Horse-shoe  Fall  is  a  subject 
of  speculation  with  every  visitor.  It  was  (piite  correctly 
determined  in  1827,  In  the  autumn  of  that  year,  the  ship 
Michigan^  having  been  condemned  as  unseaworthy,  was 
purchased  by  a  few  individuals,  and  sent  over  the  Falls. 
Her  hull  was  eighteen  feet  deep.      It  filled  going  down 


ri 


OBK 


86 


Niagara. 


the  rapids,  went  over  the  Horse-shoe  Fall  with  some 
water  above  the  deck,  indicating  that  there  must  have 
been  at  least  twenty  feet  above  the  rock.  This  voyage 
of  the  Michij^an  was  an  e\  cnt  of  the  day.  A  glowing 
hand-bill,  charged  with  such  i)yrotechny  of  types  and 
tropes  as  would  be  a  credit  to  the  sensational  literature  of 
the  ])resent  time,  was  issued,  announcing  that  "  The  Pirate 
Mic/ii}i(ifi,  with  a  cargo  of  furious  animals,"  would  "  pass 
the  great  rajnds  and  the  Falls  of  Niagara,"  on  the  "  eightii 
of  September,  1827."  She  would  sail  "through  the 
white-tossing  and  dcej)-roUing  rapids  of  Niagara,  and 
down  its  grand  precipice  into  the  basin  below."  Enter- 
tainment was  promised  "  for  all  who  may  visit  the  Falls 
on  the  i)resent  occasion,  which  will,  for  its  novelty  and 
the  remarkable  spectacle  it  will  present,  be  une(|ualled  in 
the  annals  of ////^'/v/rt-/ navigation."  Consideiing  that  the 
Falls  could  only  be  reached  by  land  carriage,  the  gather 
ing  of  people  was  very  large.  The  voyage  was  success- 
fully made,  and  the  "  cargo  of  live  animals "  duly 
deposited  in  the  "  basin  below,"  except  a  bear,  which  left 
the  ship  near  the  centre  of  the  rapids,  got  to  shore  and 
was  recaptured. 

Two  enterprising  individuals  made  arrangements  to 
supply  the  peoi)le  assembled  on  the  Island  with  refresh- 
ments. They  had  an  ample  spread  of  tables  and  an 
abundant  sujjply  of  provisions.  As  there  was  much  de- 
lay in  getting  the  vessel  down  the  river,  the  people  got 
both  impatient  and  hungry.  To  relieve  both  they  took 
their  place  at  the  tables.  When  their  appetites  were 
nearly  satisfied,  notice  was  given  that  the  ship  was  com- 


History  and  Incidents. 


^1 


ing,  whercuj)on  they  departed  hurriedly,   forgetting    to 
leave  the  e(|uivalent  half  dollar  for  the  benefit  of  the  pur 
veyors,  and  the  places  which  knew  them   knew  them  no 
more  forever. 

In  after  years,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  this  unexi)ected 
"free  lunch  "—the  late  (Jen.  Whitney— established  here 
one  of  the  best  hotels  in  the  country,  and  left  his  heirs  an 
ample  fortune. 

A  few  geese  in  the  cargo  were  only  badly  confused  by 
their  unusual  plunge,  and  were  afterwards  j)icked  up  from 
boats.  Ft  was  noticed  as  being  a  little  singular  that  geese 
which  went  over  the  Vails  in  the  Pirate  Michigan  were 
for  sale  at  extravagant  prices  all  the  next  season.  By 
some  new  method  of  expanding  a  finite  (piantity  into  an 
infinite  series,  the  modest  (juartette  which  actually  went 
over  was  increased  to  more  than  a  hundred. 

Another  condemned  vessel  of  about  500  tons  burden, 
the  Detroit,  which  had  belonged  to  Commodore  Perry's 
victorious  fleet,  was  sent  down  the  rajjids  in  1841.  A 
large  concourse  of  peoi)le  assembled  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  to  witness  the  spectacle.  Her  rolling  and  plung 
ing  in  the  rapids  were  fearful,  until  about  midway  of  them 
she  stuck  fast  on  a  bar,  where  she  lay  until  knocked  to 
pieces  by  the  ice.  From  Haron  La  Hontan  (ante)  we 
know  that  the  Indians  went  on  the  water,  just  below  the 
Falls,  in  their  canoes,  to  gather  the  game  which  had  been 
drawn  over  them.  I'^or  more  than  a  hundred  years  there 
has  been  a  ferry  of  skiff  and  yawl  boats  at  this  point,  and 
in  all  that  time  not  one  serious  accident  has  happened. 


IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  MS«0 

(716)872-4503 


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Niagara. 


CHAPTER  XL 


JOEL   R.    ROBINSON. 

First  and  Last  Navigator  of  the  Rapids — Rescue  of  Chapin — 
Of  Allen — Of  property  from  canal  boat — Takes  the  "  Maid 
of  the  Mist"  through  the  Whirlpool — Description  of  the 
voyage — His  companions — Effect  upon  Robinson — Bio- 
graphical notice — His  body  mouldering  in  an  unmarked 
grave — The  heroines  of  Lonestone  and  Newport,  Grace 
Darling  and  Ida  Lewis. 

THE  history  of  the  navigation  of  the  Rapids  of  the 
Niagara  may  be  very  appropriately  concluded  in 
this  chapter,  which  is  devoted  to  a  notice  of  the  remark- 
able man  who  inaugurated  it,  who  had  no  rival  and  has 
left  no  successor  in  it — Mr.  Joel  R.  Robinson. 

In  the  summer  of  1838,  while  some  extensive  repairs 
were  being  made  on  the  main  bridge  to  Goat  Island,  a 
mechanic  named  Chapin  fell  from  the  lower  side  of  it 
into  the  rapids  about  ten  rods  from  the  Bath  Island 
shore.  The  swift  current  bore  him  toward  the  first 
small  island  lying  below  the  bridge.  Knowing  how  to 
swim  he  made  a  desperate  and  successful  effort  to  reach 
it.  It  is  hardly  more  than  thirty  feet  square,  and  is 
covered  with  cedars  and  hemlocks.  Saved  from  drown- 
ing he  seemed  likely  to  fall  a  victim  to  the  slow  torture  of 
starvation.  All  thoughts  were  then  turned  to  Robinson, 
and  not  in  vain.     He  launched  his  light  red  skiff  from  the 


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IS 


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m^.'irv'fyt.''  ''^" , 


Joel  R.  Robinson. 


89 


foot  of  Bath  Island,  picked  his  way  cautiously  and  skilfully 
through  the  Rapids  to  the  little  island,  took  Chapin  in 
and  brought  him  safely  to  the  shore,  much  to  the  relief 
of  the  spectators,  who  testified  their  appreciation  of 
Robinson's  service  by  a  moderate  contribution. 

In  the  summer  of  1841,  a  Mr.  Allen  started  for  Chip- 
pawa  in  a  boat  just  before  sunset.  Being  anxious  to  get 
across  before  dark  he  plied  his  oars  with  such  vigor  that 
one  of  them  was  broken  when  he  was  about  opposite  the 
middle  Sister.  With  the  remaining  oar  he  tried  to  make 
the  head  of  Goat  Island.  The  current,  however,  set  too 
strongly  towards  the  great  Canadian  Rapids,  and  his  only 
hope  was  to  reach  the  outer  Sister.  N  earing  this  and  not 
being  able  to  run  his  boat  on  to  it  he  sprang  out,  and, 
being  a  good  swimmer,  by  a  vigorous  effort  succeeded  in 
getting  on  to  it.  Certain  of  having  a  lonely  if  not  a  quiet 
and  pleasant  night,  and  being  the  fortunate  possessor 
of  two  stray  matches,  he  lighted  a  fire  and  solaced  him- 
self with  his  thoughts  and  his  pipe.  Next  morning  taking 
off  his  red  flannel  shirt,  he  raised  a  signal  of  distress. 
Toward  noon  the  unusual  smoke  and  the  red  flag 
attracted  attention.  The  situation  was  soon  ascertained, 
and  Robinson  informed  of  it.  Not  long  after  noor  the 
little  red  skiff"  was  carried  across  Goat  Island  and  launched 
in  the  channel  just  below  the  Moss  Islands.  Robinson 
then  pulled  himself  across  to  the  foot  of  the  middle  Sister 
and  tried  in  vain  to  find  a  point  where  he  could  cross  to 
the  outer  one.  Approaching  darkness  compelled  him  to 
suspend  operations.  He  rowed  back  to  Goat  Island, 
got  some  refreshments,  returned  to  the  middle  Sister, 

G 


.^it'.  ,\t^ni»t>t'-^-<^ 


ujimt.,.^mi!msMiimau,MnmmtH'Tm«'mm,t„^^..  .«ii^.:.,w».„>>«. 


90 


Niagara. 


threw  them  across  to  Allen,  and  then  left  him  to  his 
second  night  of  solitude.  The  next  day  Robinson  took 
with  him  two  long,  light,  strong  cords,  with  a  properly- 
shaped  piece  of  lead  weighing  about  a  pound.  Tying 
the  lead  to  one  of  the  cords  he  threw  it  across  to  Allen. 
Robinson  then  fastened  the  other  end  of  Allen's  cord 
to  the  bow  of  the  skiff ;  then  attaching  his  own  cord  to 
the  skiff  also,  he  shoved  it  off.  Allen  drew  it  to  himself, 
got  into  it,  pushed  off,  and  Robinson  drew  him  to  where 
he  stood  on  the  middle  island.  Then  seating  Allen  in 
the  stem  of  the  skiff  he  returned  across  the  Rapids  to 
Goat  Island,  where  both  were  assisted  up  the  bank  by 
the  spectators,  and  the  little  craft  too,  which  seemed  to 
be  almost  as  much  of  a  hero  and  as  great  a  favorite  with 
the  crowd  as  Robinson  himself. 

This  was  the  second  individual  rescued  by  Robinson 
from  islands  which  had  been  considered  wholly  inacces- 
sible. It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  there  was  not 
another  man  on  the  globe  that  could  have  saved  Chapin 
and  Allen  as  he  did.  His  laurels  as  Navigator  of  the 
Rapids  can  never  fade  nor  decay.  They  are  made  per- 
ennial by  the  generous  motives  and  humane  acts  through 
which  they  were  won. 

In  the  summer  of  1855  a  canal  boat,  with  two  men 
and  a  dog  in  it,  was  discovered  in  the  strong  current  near 
Grass  Island.  The  men,  finding  they  could  not  save 
the  large  boat,  took  to  their  small  one,  and  got  ashore, 
leaving  the  dog  to  his  fate.  The  abandoned  craft  floated 
down  and  lodged  on  the  rocks  on  the  south  side  of  Goat 
Island  and  about  twenty  rods  above  the  ledge  over  which 


J. 


Joel  R.  Robinson. 


91 


the  Rapids  make  the  first  perpendicular  break.  There  were 
in  it  a  watch,  a  gun,  and  some  articles  of  clothing.     The 
owner  offered  Robinson  a  liberal  salvage  if  he  would 
recover  the  property.     Taking  one  of  his  sons  with  him, 
he  started  the  little   red   skiff  from  the   head   of  the 
hydraulic  canal,  half  a  mile  above  the  Island,  shot  across 
the  American   channel,  and  ran   directly  to  the  boat. 
Holding  the  skiff  to  it  himself,  the  young  man  got  on 
board  and  secured  the  valuables.     The  dog  had  escaped 
during  the  night.     Leaving  the  canal  boat,  he  ran  down 
the  ledge  between  the  second  and  third  Moss  Islands, 
and  thence  to  Goat  Island.     On  going  over  the  ledge 
he  had  occasion  to  exercise  that  quickness  of  apprehen- 
-sion  and  presence  of  mind  for  which  he  was  so  noted. 
The  water  was  rather  lower  than  he  had  calculated,  and 
on  reaching  the  top  of  the  ledge  the  bottom  of  the  skiff 
near  the  bow  struck  the  rock.     Instantly  he  sprang  to  the 
stern,  freed  the  skiff  and  made  the  descent  safely.    If  the 
stern  had  been  swung  athwart  the  current,  inevitable 
wreck  would  have  followed. 

In  the  year  1846  a  small  steamer  was  built  in  the 
€ddy  just  above  the  railway  Suspension  Bridge  to  run  up 
to  the  Falls.  She  was  very  appropriately  named — The 
Maid  of  the  Mist.  Her  engine  was  rather  weak,  but  she 
safely  accomplished  the  trip.  As,  however,  she  took 
passengers  aboard  only  from  the  Canada  side,  she  did 
little  more  than  pay  expenses.  In  1854  a  larger,  better 
boat,  with  a  more  powerful  engine,  the  new  Maid  of  the 
Misty  was  put  on  the  route,  and  many  thousands  of  per- 
sons made  this  most  exciting  and  impressive  tour  under 


r 


E 


31 


92 


Niagara, 


the  Falls.     The  admiration  which  the  visitor  felt  as  he 
passed   quietly  along    under    the   American   Fall   was 
changed  into  awe  when  he  began  to  feel  the  mighty  pulse 
of  the  great  deep  just  below   the  tower ;  then  swung 
around  into  the  white  foam  directly  in  front  of  the  Horse- 
shoe and  saw  the  sky  of  waters  falling  toward  him.     And 
he  seemed  to  be  lifted  on  wings  as  he  sailed  swiftly  down 
on  the  flying  stream  through  a  baptism  of  spray.    To  many 
persons  there  was  a  fascination  about  it  that  induced 
them  to  make  the  trip  every  time  they  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  do  so.     Owing  to  some  change  in  her  appoint- 
ments, which  confined  her  to  the  Canadian  shore  for  the 
reception  of  passengers,  she  became  unprofitable.     Her 
owner  having  decided  to  leave  the  place  wished  to  sell 
her  as  she  lay  at  her  dock.     This  he  could  not  do,  but 
had  an  offer  of  something  more  than  half  of  her  cost,  if 
he  would  deliver  her  at  Niagara,  opposite  the  Fort.     This 
he   decided  to  do,    after  consultation    with   Robinson, 
who  had  acted  as  her  captain  and  pilot  on  her  trips 
under  the  Falls.     The  boat  required  for  her  navigation, 
an  engineer,  who  also  acted  as  fireman,  and  a  pilot.     On 
her  pleasure  trips  she  had  a  clerk  in  addition  to  these. 
Mr.  Robinson  agreed  to  act  as  pilot  for  the  fearful  voyage, 
and  the  engineer,  Mr.  Jones,  consented  to  go  with  him. 
A  courageous  machinist,  Mr.  Mclntyre,  volunteered  to 
share  the  risk  with  them.     They  put  her  in  complete 
trim,  removing  from  deck  and  hold  all  superfluous  articles. 
Notice  was  given  of  the  time  for  starting,  and  a  large 
number  of  people  assembled  to  see  the  fearful  plunge,  no 
one  expecting  to  see  either  boat  or  crew  again,  after  they 


i 


T 


J. 


t 


Joel  R.  Robinson. 


93 


should  leave  the  dock.  This  dock,  as  has  been  before 
stated,was  just  above  the  railway  Suspension  Bridge,  at  the 
place  where  she  was  built,  and  where  she  was  laid  up  in 
the  winter ;  that,  too,  being  the  only  place  where  she 
could  lie  without  danger  of  being  crushed  by  the  ice. 
Twenty  rods  below  this  eddy  the  water  plunges  sharply 
down  into  the  head  of  the  crooked,  tumultuous  rapid 
which  we  have  before  noticed,  as  reaching  from  the  bridge 
to  the  Whirlpool.  At  the  Whirlpool  the  danger  of  being 
drawn  under  was  most  to  be  apprehended;  in  the  Rapids 
of  being  turned  over  or  knocked  to  pieces.  From  the 
Whirlpool  to  Lewiston  is  one  wild,  turbulent  rush  and 
whirl  of  water  without  a  square  foot  of  smooth  surface  in 
the  whole  distance. 

About  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  June  15,  1867, 
the  engineer  took  his  place  in  the  hold,  and,  knowing  that 
their  flitting  would  be  short  at  the  longest,  and  might  be 
only  the  preface  to  a  swift  destruction,  set  his  steam-valve 
It  the  proper  gauge,  and  awaited — not  without  anxiety — 
the  tinkling  signal  that  should  start  them  on  their  flying 
voyage.     Mclntyre  joined  Robinson  at  the  wheel  on  the 
upper-deck.     Self-possessed,  and  with  the  calmness  which 
results  from  undoubting  courage  and  confidence,  yet  with 
the  humility  which  recognizes  all  possibilities,  with  down- 
cast eyes  and  firm  hands,  Robinson  took  his  place  at  the 
wheel  and  pulled  the  starting  bell.     With  a  shriek  from 
her  whistle  and  a  white  puff"  from  her  escape  pipe  to  take 
leave,  as  it  were,  of  the  multitude  gathered  on  the  shores 
and  on  the  bridge,  the  boat  ran  up  the  eddy  a  short  dis- 
tance, then  swung  around  to  the  right,  cleared  the  smooth 


fH 


*— «'«>*«—«"«'«—**«*"^*"  J..-gi'J<.-U».1 


94 


Niagara. 


! 


water  and  shot  like  an  arrow  into  the  rapid  under  the 
bridge.  Sh  took  the  outside  curve  of  the  rapid,  and  when 
a  third  of  the  way  down  it  a  jet  of  water  struck  against  her 
rudder,  a  column  dashed  up  under  her  starboard  side, 
heeled  her  over,  carried  away  her  smoke-stack,  started  her 
overhang  on  that  side,  threw  Robinson  flat  on  his  back 
and  thrust  Mclntyre  against  her  starboard  wheel-house 
with  such  force  as  to  break  it  through.  Every  3ye  was 
fixed;  every  tongue  was  silent,  and  every  looker-on 
breathed  freer  as  she  emerged  from  the  fearful  baptism, 
shook  her  wounded  sides,  slid  into  the  whirlpool  and  for 
a  moment  rode  again  on  an  even  keel.  Robinson  rose 
at  once,  seized  the  helm,  set  her  to  the  right  of  the 
large  pot  in  the  pool,  then  turned  her  directly  through 
the  neck  of  it.  Thence,  after  receiving  another  drenching 
from  its  combing  waves,  she  dashed  on  without  further 
accident  to  the  quiet  bosom  of  the  river  below  Lewiston. 
Thus  was  accomplished  the  most  remarkable  and  peril- 
ous voyage  ever  made  by  men.  To  look  at  the  boat  and 
the  navigation  she  was  to  undertake  no  one  would  have 
predicted  for  it  any  other  than  a  fatal  termination.  The 
boat  was  seventy-two  feet  long  with  seventeen  feet  breadth 
of  beam  and  eight  feet  depth  of  hold,  and  carried  an  engine 
of  an  hundred  horse  power.  In  conversation  with  Robin- 
son after  the  voyage,  he  stated  that  the  greater  part  of  it 
was  like  what  he  had  always  imagined  must  be  the  swift 
sailing  of  a  large  bird  in  a  downward  flight ;  that  when 
the  accident  occurred  the  boat  seemed  to  be  struck  from 
all  directions  at  once ;  that  she  trembled  like  a  fiddle- 
string  and  felt  as  if  she  would  crumble  away  and  drop  into 


I  ii 


T 


Joel  R.  Robinson. 


95 


atoms ;  that  both  he  and  Mclntyre  were  holding  to  the 
wheel  with  all  their  strength  but  produced  no  more  effect 
than  if  they  had  been  two  flies ;  that  he  had  no  fear  of 
striking  the  rocks,  for  he  knew  that  the  strongest  suction 
must  be  in  the  deepest  channel  and  that  the  boat  must 
remain  in  that.  Finding  that  Mclntyre  was  somewhat 
bewildered  by  excitement  or  by  his  fall  as  he  rolled  up  by 
his  side  but  did  not  rise,  he  quietly  put  his  foot  on  his 
breast  to  keep  him  from  rolling  around  the  deck  and  thus 
finished  the  voyage. 

Poor  Jones,  imprisoned  beneath  the  hatches  before 
the  glowing  furnace,  went  down  on  his  knees,  as  he 
related  afterward,  and  although  a  more  earnest  prayer 
was  never  uttered  and  few  that  were  shorter,  still  it  seemed 
to  him  prodigiously  long.  To  that  prayer  he  thought 
they  owed  their  salvation. 

The  effect  of  this  trip  upon  Robinson  was  decidedly 
marked.  To  it,  as  he  lived  but  a  few  years  afterward,  his 
death  was  commonly  attributed.  But  this  was  incorrect, 
since  the  disease  which  terminated  his  life  was  contracted 
at  New  Orleans  at  a  later  day.  "  He  was,"  said  Mrs. 
Robinson  to  the  writer,  "  twenty  years  older  when  he 
came  home  that  day  than  when  he  went  out."  He  sank 
into  his  chair  like  a  person  overcome  with  weariness.  He 
decided  to  abandon  the  water  and  advised  his  sons  to 
venture  no  more  about  the  rapids.  Both  his  manner  and 
appearance  were  changed.  Calm  and  deliberate  before, 
he  became  thoughtful  and  serious  afterward.  He  had 
been  borne,  as  it  were,  in  the  arms  of  a  power  so  mighty 
that  its  impress  was  stamped  on  his  features  and  on  his 


4 


mm 


mmmmm 


96 


Niagara. 


f 
'    I 


/'    H 


' 


mind.  Through  a  slightly  opened  door  he  had  seen  a 
vision  which  awed  and  subdued  him.  He  became  reve- 
rent in  a  moment.     He  grew  venerable  in  an  hour. 

Yet  he  had  a  strange,  almost  irrepressible  desire  to 
make  this  voyage  immediately  after  the  steamer  was  put 
on  below  the  Falls.  This  wish  was  only  increased  when 
the  first  Maid  of  the  Mist  was  superseded  by  the  new  and 
stancher  one.  He  insisted  that  it  could  be  made  with 
safety  and  that  it  might  be  made  a  good  pecuniary  spec- 
ulation. 

He  was  a  character,  an  original.  Born  on  the  banks 
of  the  Connecticut,  in  the  town  of  Springfield, Massachu- 
setts, it  was  in  the  beautiful  reach  of  water  which  skirts 
that  now  fine  city  that  he  acquired  his  love  of  aquatic 
sports  and  exercises  and  his  skill  in  them.  He  was  nearly 
six  feet  high,  with  light  chestnut  hair,  blue  eyes  and  fair 
complexion.  He  was  a  kind-hearted  man  of  equable 
temper,  few  words,  cool,  deliberate,  decided ;  lithe  as  a 
Gaul  and  gentle  as  a  girl.  To  say  that  he  was  a  man  of 
'undaunted  courage'  would  be  to  waste  on  him  an  expres- 
sion which  is  supposed  to  be  fine  and  known  to  be  strong. 
He  had  that  calm,  serene,  supreme  equanimity  of  tem- 
perament which  fear  could  not  reach  nor  disturb.  He 
had  none  of  the  qualifications  which  would  have  fitted  him 
to  become  a  robber  or  a  conspirator;  he  might  have  been, 
under  right  conditions,  a  quiet,  willing  martyr,  and  at  last 
he  bore  patiently  the  wearying  hours  of  slow  decay  which 
ended  his  life.  Pecuniarily  he  had  none  of  that  covetous- 
nous  which  is  idolatry.  His  love  of  nature  and  adven- 
ture was  paramount  to  his  love  of  money,  and  although 


T 


-] T     "'T- 


yoel  R.  Robinson. 


97 


a 
p. 


1 


J 


his  purse  was  never  pinched  ^\'ith  poverty,  yet  it  was  never 
plethoric  with  abundance.  Hence  his  virtues  were  not 
over-estimated  by  those  with  whom  coin  and  success  are 
convertible  terms. 

He  loved  the  water  and  was  at  home  in  it  or  on  it,  as  he 
was  a  capital  swimmer  and  a  skilful  oarsman.  Especially 
he  delighted  in  the  Rapids  of  the  Niagara.  Kind  and 
compassionate  as  he  was  by  nature,  he  was  almost  glad 
when  he  heard  that  a  fellow-creature  was,  in  some  way, 
entangled  in  the  rapids,  since  it  would  give  him  an  excuse, 
an  opportunity  to  work  in  them  and  to  heip  Jmn.  As  he 
was  not  a  boaster  he  made  no  superfluous  exhibitions  of 
his  skill  or  courage,  albeit  he  might  occasionally  indulge 
— and  be  indulged-^in  some  mirthful  manifestation  of  his 
good  nature;  as  when  on  reaching  Chapin's  Island  for  his 
rescue  he  waved  from  one  of  its  tallest  cedars  a  green 
branch  to  the  anxious  spectators  as  if  to  assure  and 
encourage  them;  and  when  he  returned  with  his  skiff 
half  filled  with  cedar-sprigs  which  he  distributed  to  the 
multitude  when  they  raised  his  pet  craft  to  their  shoulders, 
with  both  Chapin  and  himself  in  it,  and  bore  them  in 
triumph  through  the  village,  while  money  tokens  went  in 
to  replace  the  green  ones  as  they  came  out. 

He  neither  provoked  nor  defied  Providence,  nor  fool- 
ishly challenged  the  admiration  of  his  fellow-men.  But 
when  the  emergency  arose  for  the  proper  exercise  of  his 
powers,  when  news  came  that  some  one  was  in  trouble 
jn  the  river,  then  he  went  to  work  with  a  calm  and  cheer- 
ful will  which  gave  assurance  of  the  best  results.  Beneath 
his  quiet  deliberation  of  manner  there  was  concealed  a 


98 


Niagara. 


;a    \ 


wonderful  vigor  both  of  resolution  and  nerve,  as  was 
amply  testified  by  the  dangers  which  he  faced,  and  by  the 
bend  in  his  withy  oar  as  he  forced  it  through  the  water^ 
and  the  feathery  spray  which  flashed  from  its  blade  when 
he  lifted  it  to  the  surface. 

In  all  fishing  and  sailing  parties  his  presence  was  indis- 
pensable with  those  who  knew  him.  There  are  some  of 
the  best  possible  elements  in  the  character  of  that  man  to 
whom  children  are  instinctively  attracted.  He  was  a 
great  favorite  with  children  and  women.  The  most  timid 
no  longer  hesitated  if  Robinson  was  to  go  with  the  party. 
His  quick  eye  saw  everything  it  was  necessary  to  see  and 
his  willing  hand  did  all  that  it  was  necessary  to  do  to 
secure  the  comfort  and  safety  of  the  company. 

And  yet  a  prophet  is  not  without  honor  save  in  his 
own  country.  It  is  doubtful  whether  any  except  a  very 
few  of  his  neighbors  know  where  his  mortal  remains  are 
mouldering  in  an  unmarked  grave.  The  heroines  of  Lone- 
stone  and  Newport  have  been  the  worthy  recipients  of 
favors  and  testimonials  well  and  nobly  won.  They  per- 
formed their  beneficent  labor  upon  the  storm-swept  bil- 
lows of  the  ocean,  where,  if  their  heroic  efforts  had  not 
been  successful  in  saving  others,  they  might  possi- 
bly have  saved  themselves  on  the  shoreward  surging 
waves.  Robinson  went  forth  on  a  turbulent,  unreturning 
flood  where  the  slightest  hesitancy  in  thought  or  act  would 
have  proved  instantly  fatal.  Benevolent  associations  in 
different  cities  and  countries  bestow  honor  and  rewards 
on  those  who,  by  unselfish  effort  and  a  noble  courage, 
save  the  life   of  a  fellow-being.     This   Robinson  did 


',  as  was 
nd  by  the 
lie  water, 
ide  when 

rvas  indis- 
:  some  of 
It  man  to 
2  was   a 
ost  timid 
he  party, 
see  and 
to  do  to 


s  in  his 
t  a  very 
lins  are 
)fLone- 
ients  of 
ley  per- 
ept  bil- 
lad  not 
possi- 
surging 
:urning 
would 
ons  in 
iwards 
urage, 
n  did 


iwy^,A"'(i-A'-w«-' 


«r 


n 

,jH 

l-lt 

') 

1 

!! 


B 


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'  ^MMBHIBir- 


i 


I 


1 


^^ 


^ 


\ 
\ 

V 

V 


] 


History  and  Incidents. 


99 


repeatedly.     Yet  no  word  nor  line  nor  stone  commemo- 
rates his  worthy  deeds. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

LOCAL   HISTORY   AND   INCIDENTS. 

Fisher  and  Bear  in  Canoe — Frightful  Experience  in  the  Ice 
— Early  Farming  on  the  Niagara — Fruit  Growing — Origi- 
nal Forest — Testimony  of  the  Trees — First  Hotel — Inter- 
national— General  Whitney — Cataract  House — Distin- 
guished Visitors — Carriage  Road  down  the  Canada  Bank — 
Pavilion — Ontario  House — Clifton  House — Museum — 
Table  and  Termination  Rocks — Burning  Spring — Lundy's 
Lane — Battle — Anecdotes. 

SOON  after  the  war  of  1812,  a  fisherman — whose  name 
we  will  call  Fisher — on  a  certain  day,  went  out 
upon  the  river  about  three  miles  above  the  Falls,  and 
while  anchored  and  fishing  from  his  canoe,  he  saw  a 
bear  in  the  water  making,  very  leisurely,  for  Navy  Island. 
Not  understanding  very  thoroughly  the  nature  and  habits 
of  the  animal,  thinking  he  would  be  a  capital  prize  and 
having  a  spear  in  the  canoe,  he  hoisted  anchor  and  started 
in  pursuit.  As  the  canoe  drew  near,  the  bear  turned  to 
pay  his  respects  to  its  occupant.  Fisher,  with  his  spear 
made  a  desperate  thrust  at  him.  Quicker  and  more 
deftly  than  the  most  expert  fencer  could  have  done,  the 
quadruped  parried  the  blow  and,  disarming  his  assailant, 
knocked  the  spear  more  than  ten  feet  from  the  canoe. 


i 


1 


lOO 


Niagara. 


I 


!-7l 

1' 


! 


_, 


Fisher  then  seized  a  paddle  and  belabored  the  bear  over 
his  head  and  on  his  paws,  as  he  placed  the  latter  on  the 
side  of  the  canoe,  and  drew  himself  in.  The  now  fright- 
ened jfisherman,  not  knowing  how  to  swim,  was  in  a  most 
uncomfortable  quandary.  He  felt  greatly  relieved  there- 
fore, when  the  animal  deliberately  sat  himself  down  facing 
him  in  the  bow  of  the  canoe.  Resolving  in  his  own  mind 
that  he  would  generously  resign  the  whole  canoe  to  the 
creature  as  soon  as  he  should  reach  the  land,  he  raised 
his  paddle  and  began  to  pull  vigorously  shore-ward, 
especially  as  the  Rapids  lay  just  below  him  and  the  Falls 
were  roaring  most  ominously.  But  much  to  his  surprise 
as  soon  as  he  began  to  paddle  Bruin  began  to  growl,  and 
as  he  repeated  his  stroke,  the  occupant  of  the  bow  raised 
his  note  of  disapproval  an  octave  higher,  and  at  the  same 
time  made  a  motion  as  if  he  would  "  go  for"  him.  Fisher 
liad  no  desire  to  cultivate  a  closer  intimacy  and  so  stopped 
paddling.  Bruin  then  serenely  contemplated  the  land- 
scape, in  the  direction  of  the  island.  Fisher  was  also 
intensely  interested  in  the  same  scene,  still  more  intensely 
impressed  with  their  constant  and  insidious  approach  to 
the  Rapids,  but  most  of  all  exercised  as  to  the  manner  of 
his  own  escape.  He  tried  the  paddle  again.  But  the 
tyrant  of  the  quarter-deck  again  emphatically  objected 
and  as  he  was  master  of  the  situation  and  fully  resolved 
not  to  resign  the  command  of  that  craft  until  the  termina- 
tion of  the  voyage,  there  was  no  alternative  but  submis- 
sion. Still,  the  Rapids  were  frightfully  near  and  some- 
thing must  be  done.  He  gave  a  tremendous  shout, 
ut  Bruin  was  not  in  a  musical  mood  and  vetoed  that 


i 


History  and  Incidents. 


TOI 


with  as  much  emphasis  as  he  had  done  the  paddHng. 
Then  he  turned  his  eyes  on  Fisher  quite  interestedly  as  if 
he  were  calculating  the  best  method  of  dissecting  him. 
The  situation  was  fast  becoming  something  more  than 
painful.  Man  and  bear  in  opposite  ends  of  the  canoe 
floating, — not  exactly  double — but  together  to  inevitable 
destruction.  But  every  suspense  has  an  nd.  The  single 
shout,  or  something  else,  had  called  the  attention  of  the 
neighbors  to  the  canoe.  They  came  to  the  rescue  and  an 
old  settler,  with  a  musket  which  he  had  used  in  the  war, 
insinuated  a  charge  of  buck-shot  into  Bruin's  internal 
arrangements  which  induced  him  to  take  to  the  water, 
after  which  he  was  soon  taken  captive  and  dead  to  the 
shore.     He  weighed  over  three  hundred  pounds. 

A  son  of  the  settler  who  shot  the  bear,  had  a  frightful 
experience  in  the  river  many  years  afterward.  He  was 
engaged  in  Canada  in  the  business  of  buying  saw-logs  for 
the  American  market.  Coming  from  the  woods  down  to 
Chippewa  one  cold  day  in  December,  at  a  time  when  con- 
siderable quantities  of  strong,  thin  cakes  of  ice  were  float- 
ing in  the  river,  he  took  a  flat-bottom  skiff  to  row  across 
to  his  home.  This  he  did  without  apprehension  as  he 
had  been  bom  and  brought  up  on  the  banks  of  the 
Niagara,  understood  it  well,  and  was  also  a  strong,  reso- 
lute man.  As  he  drew  near  the  foot  of  Navy  Island 
intending  to  take  the  schute  between  it  and  Buckhom 
Island,  two  large  cakes  between  which  he  was  sailing, 
were  suddenly  closed  together  and  cut  the  bottom  of  his 
skiff  square  off.  Just  above  the  upper  cake  on  which  his 
bottomless  skiff  then  was  floating,  there  was  a  second* 


X 


3        I 


lift 


I02 


Niagara. 


large  cake  at  a  little  distance  from  it,  and  beyond  this  a 
strip  of  water  which  washed  the  shore  of  Navy  Island. 
In  less  time  than  it  has  taken  to  write  this,  he  sprang  on 
to  the  first  piece  of  ice,  ran  across  it  with  a  sort  of  maniac 
speed,  cleared  the  first  space  of  water  at  a  single  leap,  ran 
across  the  next  cake  of  ice,  jumped  with  all  his  might  and 
landed  in  the  icy  water  within  a  rod  of  the  shore,  to  which 
he  swam.  He  was  soon  after  warming  and  drying  him- 
self before  the  rousing  fire  of  the  only  occupant  of  the 
island. 

His  father  had  a  fine  farm  on  the  bank  of  the  river, 
which  he  cultivated  with  much  care.  But  before  the 
•drainage  of  the  country  was  completed  the  land  was 
decidedly  wet.  A  friend  from  the  east  who  made  him  a 
•call  found  him  ploughing.  The  water  stood  in  the  bottom 
of  the  furrows,  as  he  turned  over  the  r'ch,  heavy  soil,  and 
his  visitor  remarked  that  it  was  "  ratner  wet  ploughing." 
"  Oh  no  !  this  is  not  bad,"  said  the  farmer.  "  What  do 
you  call  bad?"  asked  the  New  Englander.  "When  I 
cannot  see  anything  of  my  plough  except  the  handles," 
was  the  response. 

But  agriculture  has  been  progressive  since  those  days. 
It  is  now  almost  a  fine  art  instead  of  a  mere  pursuit. 
And  no  where  north  of  the  equator  is  there  a  climate  and 
soil  so  genial  and  favorable  for  the  growth  of  certain  kinds 
of  fruit,  especially  the  apple  and  the  peach,  as  are  those 
of  Niagara  County.  Connoisseurs  claim  that  they  can 
decide  by  the  peculiar  consistency  of  the  pulp  and  by  its 
flavor  and  bouquet^  on  which  side  of  the  Genesee  river  any 
tested  apple  was  grown.     It  is  said  that  the  winter  apples 


History  and  Incidents. 


103 


of  Niagara  are  as  well  known  and  as  greatly  distinguished 
above  all  others  of  their  kind  on  the  docks  of  Liverpool 
as  is  Sea  Island  Cotton,  above  all  other  grades  of  that 
plant.     The  delicious  little  russet,  known  as  the  Fomme 
Gris,  with  its  fine  aromatic  flavor  when  ripe,  grows  no 
where  else  to  such  perfection  as  along  the   Niagara  river. 
In  1825,  at  the  grand  celebration  held  to  commemorate 
the  completion  of  the  Erie  Canal,  the  late  Judge  Porter 
made  the  first  shipment  east  of  apples  raised  in  Niagara 
County.     It  consisted  of  two  barrels,  one  of  which  was 
sent  to  the  Corporation  of  the  city  of  Troy,  and  the  other 
to   that  of  New   York.     They  were  duly  received   and 
honored.     From  this  small  beginning  the  fruit  trade  has 
grown  up  to  the  yearly  value  of  more  than  a  miUion  of 
dollars  for  Niagara  County  alone. 

In  reference  to  the  forest  which  once  covered  this 
country,  a  very  erroneous  impression  is  prevalent  as  to  its 
age.  Poets  and  Romancers  have  been  in  the  habit  of 
speaking  of  these  "  primeval  forests "  as  though  they 
might  have  been  bushes  when  Nahor  and  Abraham  were 
infants.  But  this  is  a  great  error.  Since  the  discovery 
of  the  country  but  one  tree  has  been  found  that  was 
eight  hundred  years  old.  This  is  mentioned  by  Sir 
Charles  Lyall  as  having  grown  out  of  one  of  the  ancient 
mounds  near  Marietta,  Ohio.  But  the  great  majority 
of  them  were  not  over  three  hundred.  The  testimony 
of  the  trees  concerning  the  past,  is  not  quite  so  abundant 
as  that  of  the  rocks,  but  that  of  one  tree  grown  in  central 
New  York  is  of  a  remarkable  character.  It  was  a  white 
oak,  which  grew  in  the  rich  valley  of  the  Clyde  river. 


'' 


II  I 


I  I 


! 


104 


Niagara. 


about  one  mile  west  of  Lyons'  Court  House,  and  was  cut 
down  in  the  year  1837.  The  body  made  a  stick  of  tim- 
ber eighty  feet  long,  which  before  sawing  was  about  five 
feet  in  diameter.  It  was  cut  into  short  logs  and  sawed 
up.  From  the  centre  of  the  butt  log  was  sawn  a  piece 
about  eight  by  twelve  inches.  At  the  butt  end  of  this 
piece,  the  saw  laid  bare,  without  marring  them,  some  old 
scars  made  by  an  axe  or  some  other  sharp  instrument. 
These  scars  were  perfectly  distinct  and  their  character 
equally  unmistakable.  They  were  made,  apparently 
when  the  young  tree  was  about  six  inches  in  diameter. 
Outside  of  these  scars,  there  were  counted  four  hundred 
and  sixty  distinct  rings,  each  ring  marking  with  unerring 
certainty  one  year's  growth  of  the  tree.  It  follows  that 
this  chopping  was  done  in  1374,  or  one  hundred  and 
eighteen  years  before  the  first  voyage  of  Columbus  across 
the  Atlantic.  Hence  one  of  the  reasons  for  speaking  of 
the  rediscovered  continent,  in  the  first  part  of  this  work. 

It  has  been  questioned  whether  the  rings  shown  in  a 
cross  section  of  a  tree,  can  be  relied  upon  to  determine 
truly  the  number  of  years  it  has  been  growing.  A  singular 
confirmation  of  the  correctness  of  this  method  of  counting 
was  furnished  some  years  since. 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  last  century  the  late  Judge 
Porter  surveyed  a  large  tract  of  land  lying  east  of  the 
Genesee  river,  known  as  "  The  Gore."  Some  thirty-five 
years  afterward  it  became  necessary  to  re-survey  one  of 
its  lines,  and  recourse  was  had  to  the  original  surveys. 
Most  of  the  forest,  through  which  the  first  line  had  been 
run,  was  cleared  off  and  such  trees  as  had  been  "  blazed  " 


History  and  Incidents. 


105 


I 


as  line-trees,  had  overgrown  the  scars.  One  tree  was 
found  which  was  declared  to  be  an  original  line-tree.  On 
cutting  into  it  carefully  the  old  "  blaze"  was  brought  to 
light,  and,  on  counting  the  rings  outside  of  it,  they  were 
found  to  correspond  with  the  number  of  years  which  had 
elapsed  since  the  first  survey. 

One  of  the  three   small  buildings  at  Niagara  which 
escaped  the  flames  of  18 14,  was  a  log  cabin  about  thirty 
by  forty  feet  in  its  dimensions,  that  stood  in  the  centre  of 
the  front  of  the  .International  block.     In  the  latter  part  of 
181 5  the  inhabitants  returned  and  the  late  General  P. 
Whitney  put  a  board  addition  to  the  log  house  and  opened 
the  first   hotel.     From  that  has  grown  up  the   present 
International.     On  the  opposite  side  of  the  street  was  a 
small  house,  a  story  and  a  half  high  of  which  Judge  Porter 
took  possession,  and  to  which  he  built  an  addition.  Then, 
as  now,  there  were  occasionally  more  visitors  than  the 
hotel  could  accommodate,  and  the  neighbors  assisted  in 
entertaining  them.     Judge  Porter  did  this  frequently,  and 
among  his  guests  were  President  Munroe,  Marshal  Grou- 
chy, Gen.  La  Fayette,  Gen.  Brown,  Gen.  Scott,  Judge 
Spencer,   a  Prussian    Envoy,    and  other  distinguished 
strangers. 

The  first  building  erected  on  the  ground  where  the 
"  Cataract"  now  stands,  was  of  a  later  date — 1824 — a  frame 
house  about  fifty  feet  square.  It  was  purchased  by  Gen. 
Whitney  in  1826  and  formed  the  nucleus  of  the  great  pile 
which  constitutes  the  present  Cataract  House. 

In  1829  the  carriage  road  down  the  bank  to  the  Ferry 
on  the  Canada  side  was  made.    For  some  years  previous 

H 


io6 


Niagara. 


.. 


;  1 


the  principal  hotel  at  the  Falls  was  alao  on  that  side.  It 
was  called  the  Pavilion  and  stood  on  the  high  bank  just 
above  the  Horse  Shoe  Fall.  It  commanded  a  grand  view 
of  the  river  above  and  almost  a  bird's  eye  view  of  the 
Falls  and  the  head  of  the  chasm  below.  The  principal 
stage  route  from  Buffalo  was  likewise  on  that  side,  and  the 
Register  of  the  Pavilion  contained  the  names  of  most  of 
the  noted  visitors  of  the  period.  But  the  erection  of  the 
Cataract  House  and  the  establishing  of  stage  routes  on 
the  American  side  drew  away  much  of  its  patronage,  and 
finally,  on  the  completion  of  the  first  half  of  the  Clifton 
House,  in  1833,  it  was  quite  abandoned.  A  few  years 
later  the  Ontario  House  was  built  about  half  way  between 
the  Clifton  and  the  Horse-Shoe  Fall  toward  which  it 
fronted.  There  was  not  sufficient  business  to  support 
it  and  after  standing  unoccupied  for  some  years  it  was 
finally  burned. 

The  Clifton  was  greatly  enlarged  and  improved  by  Mr. 
S.  Zimmerman  in  1865.  The  Amusement  Hall  and 
several  cottages  were  built  and  gas  works  erected.  The 
grounds  were  handsomely  graded  and  adorned,  and,  on 
account  of  its  pleasant  and  quiet  location,  it  has  been 
quite  a  favorite  with  the  public. 

Near  the  foot  of  the  Table  Rock  is  the  Museum,  its 
valuable  collection  being  the  result  of  several  years'  labor 
by  its  proprietor,  Mr.  Thomas  Bamett.  It  contains 
several  thousand  specimens  from  the  animal  and  mineral 
kingdom,  and  as  the  galleries  are  so  arranged  as  to 
represent  a  forest  scene,  they  are  presented  in  a  very 
attractive    manner.      There    are    also    several    ancient 


««:» 


History  and  Incidents. 


107 


Egyptians  in  the  building,  but  as  they  are  in  a  chrysalis 
state — mummies — it  will  probably  be  a  long  time  before 
they  will  be  able  to  see  the  great  Cataract. 

Just  above  the  Museum  the  visitor  steps  on  to  what 
remains  of  the  famous  Table  Rock.  It  was  once  a  bare, 
rock  pavement  about  fifteen  rods  long  and  about  five  rods 
wide,  about  fifty  of  its  width  projecting  beyond  its  base 
at  the  bottom  of  the  lime-stone  stratum  nearly  one  hundred 
feet  below.  Remembering  this  fact  we  can  more  readily 
credit  the  probable  truth  of  the  statement  made  by 
Father  Hennepin — which  we  have  before  noticed — that 
the  projection  on  the  American  side  in  1682,  when  he 
returned  from  his  first  tour  to  the  west,  was  so  great  that 
four  coaches  could  drive  abreast  under  it.  On  top  of  the 
debris  below  the  bank  lies  the  path  by  which  Termina- 
tion Rock,  under  the  western  end  of  the  Horse-shoe,  is 
reached.  It  is  a  path  which  few  who  are  able  neglect  to 
follow. 

The  Table  itself  has  always  been  and  must  continue 
to  be  a  favorite  resort  for  visitors.  The  combined  view 
of  all  the  Falls  and  the  chasm  below  as  well  as  the  rapids 
above  is  finer,  more  extensive  here  than  from  any  other 
point.  Moreover,  the  tiearness  to  the  great  Cataract  is 
more  sensibly  felt,  the  cof?imtmmt  with  it  is  deeper  and 
more  intimate  than  it  can  be  any  where  else.  The  view 
from  this  point  can  be  most  pleasantly  and  satisfactorily 
taken  in  the  afternoon  when  the  spectator  has  the  sun 
behind  him  and  can  look  at  his  leisure  and  with  unvexed 
eyes  at  the  brilliant  scene  before  him.  However  long  he 
may  tarry  he  will  find  new  pleasure  in  each  return  to  it. 


I  *■ 


!    r 


''  \ 


-J.   !< 


I  08 


Niagara. 


Two  miles  above,  following  around  the  bend  of  the 
Oxbow  toward  Chippawa,and  down  near  the  water's  edge,is 
the  Burning  Spring.  The  water  is  impregnated  with 
sulphurated  hydrogen  gas  and  is  in  a  constant  state  of 
mild  ebulition.  The  gas  is  perpetually  rising  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  water  and  when  a  lighted  match  is  applied  it 
burns  with  an  intermittent  flame.  If  however,  a  tub  with 
an  iron  tube  in  the  centre  of  its  bottom  is  placed  over  the 
spring  a  constant  stream  of  gas  passes  through  it.  On 
being  lighted  it  burns  constantly  with  a  pale  blue,  waver- 
ing flame  which  possesses  but  little  illuminating  or  heating 
power.  The  drive  is  a  pleasant  one,  affording  a  fine  view 
of  the  Oxbow  Rapids  and  islands  and  the  noble  river 
above. 

A  mile  and  a  quarter  west  of  Table  Rock  is  the 
Lundy's  Lane  battle-ground.  On  the  crown  of  the  hill, 
where  the  severest  struggle  occurred,  are  two  rival 
pagodas  challenging  the  tourist's  attention.  From  the 
top  of  each  he  has  a  rare  outlook  over  a  broad  level 
champaign  relieved  on  its  northern  horizon  by  the  top  of 
Brock's  Monument  and  on  its  south-eastern  by  the  City 
of  Buffalo  and  Lake  Erie. 

The  obliging  cicerone  of  either  tower  will  enlighten 
his  hearers  with  dexterous  volubility  and,  according  as  he 
is  certain  of  the  nationality  of  his  listeners,  will  the  Stars 
and  Stripes  wave  in  triumph,  or  the  Cross  of  Saint  George 
float  in  glory,  over  the  bloody  and  hard  fought  field.  If 
he  cannot  feel  sure  of  his  listeners'  habitat,  like  Justice,  he 
will  hold  an  even  balance  and  be  blind  withal. 

It  was  the  writer's  privilege  to  go  over  the  field  on  a 


•• 


*T» 


History  and  Incidents, 


109 


pleasant  June  day  with  Generals  Scott  and  Porter,  and  to 
learn  from  them  its  stirring  incidents.  General  Scott 
pointed  out  the  location  of  the  famous  battery  on  the 
British  left,  which  made  such  havoc  with  his  brave  bri- 
gade, and  in  taking  which  the  gallant  Miller  converted 
his  modest  "  I'll  try.  Sir  "  into  a  triumphant  "  It  is  done." 
The  General  also  found  the  tree  under  which,  faint  from 
his  bleeding  wound,  he  sat  down  to  rest,  placing  its  pro- 
tecting boll  between  his  back  and  the  British  bullets,  as 
he  leaned  against  it.  Plucking  a  small  wild  flower  grow- 
ing near  it,  he  presented  it  to  one  of  the  ladies  of  the 
party,  telling  her  that  "  it  grew  in  soil  once  nourished 
by  his  blood." 

General  Porter  showed  us  where,  with  his  volunteers 
and  Indians  he  broke  through  the  woods  on  the  British 
right,  just  as  Miller  had  carried  the  troublesome  battery, 
thus  aiding  to  win  the  most  obstinate  and  bloody  fight  of 
the  war.  Its  hard-won  trophies,  however,  were  too  easily 
lost,  as  by  some  misunderstanding  or  neglect  of  orders, 
the  proper  guard  around  the  field  was  not  maintained, 
and,  in  the  darkness  proverbially  intense  just  before  day, 
the  British  returned  to  the  field  and  quietly  removed  most 
of  the  guns.  So  our  English  friends  claim  it  was  a  drawn 
battle. 

Nearly  half  a  century  later  a  dinner  was  given  at 
Queenston  by  our  Canadian  friends,  to  signalize  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Lewiston  Suspension  Bridge.  On  this  oc- 
casion a  British-Canadian  officer,  the  late  Major  Wood- 
ruff, of  St.  Davids's,  who  served  with  his  regiment  during 
the  war,  was  called  upon  by  the  Chairman,  the  late  Sir 


no 


Niagara. 


Allan  McNabb,  to  follow,  in  response  to  a  toast,  the  late 
Colonel  Porter,  only  son  of  General  Porter.  In  a  mirth- 
ful reference  to  the  stirring  events  of  the  war  he  alluded 
to  the  British  retreat  after  the  battle  of  Chippawa,  and  con- 
densing the  opposing  forces  into  two  personal  pronouns, 
one  representing  General  Porter  and  the  other  himself, 
turning  to  Colonel  Porter  he  said,  "  Yes,  Sir,  I  remember 
well  the  moving  events  of  that  day,  and  how  shs  rp  he  was 
after  me.  But,  Sir,  he  was  balked  in  his  purpose,  for 
although  he  won  the  victory  I  won  the  race^  and  so  we 


were  even 


j> 


CHAPTER   XIII. 


Ill 


LOCAL   HISTORY   AND    INCIDENTS. 

Incidents — Fall  of  Table  Rock — Remarkable  phenomenon 
in  river — Consequences — Driving  and  lumbering  on  the 
Rapids — Capture  of  a  large  turtle — Points  of  Compass — 
First  view  of  Falls — Disappointment — Fall,  seen  from 
below — Lunar  Bow  —  Golden  spray  —  Gull  Island  and 
gulls — Highest  water  ever  known — Performance  of  a  fish 
hawk — Of  an  eagle — Hermit  of  the  Falls. 

OF  incidents,  curious,  comic  and  tragic  connected 
with  the  locality,  the  catalogue  is  long,  but  we  must 
make  our  recital  of  them  brief 

We  have  before  referred  to  Professor  Kalm's  notice  of 
the  fall  of  a  portion  of  Table  Rock  previous  to  1750. 
Authentic  accounts  of  like  events  are  the  following  :  In 
18 18  a  mass  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet  long  by  thirty 


History  and  Incidents. 


Ill 


wide;  in  1828  and '29  two  smaller  masses  :  also  in  1828 
there  went  down  in  the  centre  of  the  Horse-Shoe  a  huge 
mass  of  which  the  top  area  was  estimated  at  half  an  acre. 
If  this  estimate  was  correct  it  would  show  an  abrasion 
equivalent  to  nearly  one  foot  from  the  whole  surface  of 
the  Canada  Fall.  In  April,  1843,  a  mass  of  rock  and 
earth  about  thirty-five  feet  long  and  six  feet  wide  fell  from 
the  middle  of  Goat  Island.  In  1847  there  was  just  north 
of  the  Biddle  Stairs,  a  slide  of  boulders,  earth  and  gravel 
with  a  small  portion  of  the  bed-rock,  the  whole  mass 
being  about  forty  feet  long  and  ten  feet  wide.  About 
every  third  return  of  spring  has  increased  the  abrasion  at 
these  two  points.  At  the  first  named  point  more  than 
twenty  feet  in  width  has  disappeared  with  the  whole  of  the 
road  crossing  the  island.  From  the  latter  point,  which 
was  a  favorite  one  from  which  to  look  at  the  Horse-shoe 
Fall,  the  seats  provided  for  visitors  and  the  trees  which 
shaded  them  have  fallen. 

On  the  25th  of  June,  1850,  occurred  the  great  down- 
fall which  reduced  Table  Rock  to  a  narrow  bench  along 
the  bank.  The  portion  which  fell  was  one  immense  solid 
rock  two  hundred  feet  long,  sixty  feet  wide  and  one 
hundred  feet  deep  where  it  separated  from  the  bank.  The 
noise  of  the  crash  was  heard  like  muffled  thunder  for 
miles  around.  Fortunately  it  fell  at  noonday  when  but 
few  people  were  out,  and  no  lives  were  lost  The  driver 
of  an  omnibus  who  had  taken  off  his  horses  for  their 
mid-day  feed,  and  was  washing  his  vehicle,  felt  the  pre- 
liminary cracking  and  escaped,  the  vehicle  itself  being 
plunged  into  the  gulf  below. 


-Iff 


n 


Is 


1    l:f 


112 


Mi 


I 


1    '' 


i       ' 


Niagara. 


In  1850  a  canal  boat  that  became  detached  from  a  raft 
went  down  the  Canadian  rapids,  turned  broadside  across 
the  river  before  reaching  the  Falls,  struck  amidships 
against  a  rock  projecting  up  from  the  bottom  and  lodged. 
It  remained  there  more  than  a  year  and  when  it  went 
down  took  with  it  a  piece  of  the  rock  apparently  about 
ten  feet  wide  and  forty  feet  long.  At  the  foot  of  Goat 
Island  some  smaller  masses  ha^'e  fallen  and  three  quite 
extensive  earth  slides  have  occurred. 

In  the  spring  of  1852  a  triangular  mass,  the  vertex  of 
which  was  just  beyond  or  south  of  the  tower,  while  its 
altitude  of  more  than  forty  feet  lay  along  the  shore  of  the 
south  comer  of  Goat  Island,  fell  in  the  night  with  the 
usual  grinding  crash.  And  with  it  fell  some  isolated 
rocks  which  lay  on  the  brink  of  the  precipice  in  front  of 
the  tower,  and  from  which  its  name  was  derived.  Be- 
fore the  tower  was  built  some  person  looking  at  the 
rocks  from  the  shore,  suggested  that  they  appeared  like 
huge  terrapins  sunning  themselves  on  the  edge  of  the 
fall.  A  few  days  after  the  fall  the  triangular  mass,  a 
huge  column  of  rock  an  hundred  feet  high,  about  four- 
teen feet  by  twelve,  and  flat  on  the  top,  large  enough 
for  a  Cleopatra's  darning  needle,  became  separated 
from  the  bank  and  settled  down  perpendicularly  until 
its  top  was  about  ten  feet  below  the  surface  rock.  It 
stood  thus  about  four  years,  when  it  gradually  began 
to  settle,  as  the  shale  and  stone  were  disintegrated  be- 
neath it,  and  finally  tumbled  over  on  to  the  rocks  be- 
low, furnishing  the  illustration  of  the  manner  in  which  we 
suppose  the  rocks  once  accumulated  below  the  Whirl- 


s 


I 


History  and  Incidents. 


113 


pool  must  have  been  broken  down.  In  the  spring  of 
187 1  a  portion  of  the  west  side  of  the  sharp  angle  of  the 
Horse-Shoe,  apparently  about  ten  by  thirty  feet,  went 
down,  producing  a  decided  change  in  the  curve. 

On  the  29th  of  March,  1848,  the  river  presented  a  re- 
markable phenomenon.  There  is  no  record  of  a  similar 
one  nor  has  it  been  observed  since.  The  winter  had 
been  intensely  cold,  and  the  ice  formed  on  Lake  Erie  was 
very  thick.  This  was  loosened  around  the  shores  by  the 
warm  days  of  the  early  spring.  During  the  day  a  stiff 
easterly  wind  moved  the  whole  field  up  the  lake.  About 
sundown  the  wind  chopped  suddenly  around  and  blew 
a  gale  from  the  west.  This  brought  the  vast  tract  of  ice 
down  again  with  such  tremendous  force  that  it  filled  in 
the  neck  of  the  Lake  and  the  outlet  so  that  the  outflow 
of  the  water  was  very  greatly  impeded.  Of  course  it  only 
needed  a  short  space  of  time  for  the  Falls  to  drain  oflfthe 
water  below  Black  Rock. 

The  consequence  was  that  when  we  arose  in  the  morn- 
ing at  Niagara,  we  found  our  river  was  nearly  half  gone. 
The  American  channel  had  dwindled  to  a  respectable 
creek.  The  British  channel  looked  as  though  it  had  been 
smitten  with  a  quick  consumption,  and  was  fast  passing 
away.  Far  up  from  the  head  of  Goat  Island  and  out  into 
the  Canadian  rapids,  the  water  was  gone,  as  it  was  also 
from  the  lower  end  of  Goat  Island,  out  beyond  the 
tower.  The  rocks  were  bare,  black  and  forbidding.  The 
roar  of  Niagara  had  subsided  almost  to  a  moan.  The 
scene  was  desolate,  and  but  for  its  novelty  and  the  cer- 
tainty that  it  would  change  before  many  hours,  would 


.:    J 


114 


Niagara. 


i'  I 


"\\ 


have  been  gloomy  and  saddening.  Every  person  who 
has  visited  Niagara  will  remember  a  beautiful  jet  of  water 
which  shoots  up  into  the  air  about  forty  rods  south  of  the 
outer  Sister  in  the  great  rapids,  called,  with  a  singular 
contradiction  of  terms,  the  '  Leaping  Rock.'  The  writer 
•drove  a  horse  and  buggy  from  near  the  head  of  Goat 
Island  out  to  a  point  above  and  near  to  that  jet.  With 
a  log  cart  and  four  horses,  he  had  drawn  from  the  outside 
of  the  outer  island,  a  stick  of  pine  timber  hewed  twelve 
inches  square,  and  forty  feet  long.  From  the  top  of  the 
middle  island  was  drawn  a  still  larger  stick  hewed  on  one 
side  and  sixty  feet  long.  ' 

There  are  few  places  on  the  globe  where  a  person 
would  be  less  likely  to  go  banberhig  than  in  the  rapids  of 
the  Niagara,  just  above  the  brink  of  the  Horse-shoe  Fall. 
All  the  people  of  the  neighborhood  were  abroad  explor- 
ing recesses  and  cavities  that  had  never  before  been  ex- 
posed to  mortal  eyes.  The  writer  went  some  distance  up 
the  shore  of  the  river.  Large  fields  of  the  muddy  bottom 
were  laid  bare.  The  shell-fish,  the  uni-valves  and  the  bi- 
valves, the  Unios,  Cyclas  and  Valvatas  were  in  despair. 
Their  housekeeping  and  domestic  arrangements  were 
most  unceremoniously  exposed.  The  clams  with  their 
backs  up  and  their  open  mouths  down  in  the  mud  were 
making  their  sinuous  courses  towards  the  shrunken  stream. 
The  small-fry  of  fishes  were  wriggling  in  wonder  to  find 
themselves  impounded  in  small  pools,  where  the  room  of 
their  friends,  would  have  been,  emphatically,  better  than 
their  company  Testudae  found  their  backs  out  of  water 
without  the  necessity  of  mounting  a  log.     One  monstrous 


4 


/  ^istory  mid  Incidents, 


115 


1 


individual  of  the  snapping  order,  about  the  size,  circum- 
ferentially,  of  a  half-bushel  measure,  who  was  probably 
the  patriarch  of  his  tribe,  found  himself  obliged  to  survey 
more  territory  than  he  could  conveniently  compass,  and 
while  seeking  a  new  home,  had  been  captured  by  two 
ragged  urchins  who  had  secured  his  attention  as  well  as 
his  teeth  to  the  end  of  an  alder  rod,  with  which  they 
were  trying  to  draw  him  home.  With  his  four  pedal  sup- 
porters stretched  firmly  and  defiantly  forward,  and  his 
eyes  snapping  with  rage,  he  was  testiidmally  not  to  say 
manfully  contesting  every  inch  of  the  ground.  The  wri- 
ter suggested  that  he  would  draw  easier  if  the  boys  would 
turn  him  over  on  his  back.  This  was  a  piece  of  grand 
strategy  for  which  he  was  not  prepared.  It  took  him  not 
only  in  the  flank  but  in  the  rear,  all  over  and  all  around. 
His  arms  and  armory  were  both  upset.  His  eyes  were 
no  longer  to  the  front.  On  the  contrary  they  were  con- 
stantly liable  to  be  wiped  in  a  manner  not  at  all  healthful 
or  agreeable.  Turtle  flesh  and  blood  could  stand  it  no 
longer.  Conquering  the  proverbial  obstinacy  of  his  race, 
he  surrendered  at  discretion.  He  would  have  been  glad 
to  be  backed  by  his  friends,  but  it  was  intolerable  to  be 
backed  in  this  manner  by  his  enemies.  Those  enemies 
doubtless  loved  him,  after  they  had  made  him  into  soup. 

This  singular  syncope  of  the  waters  lasted  all  the  day, 
and  night  closed  over  the  strange  scene.  But  in  the 
morning  our  river  was  restored  in  all  its  strength,  and 
beauty  and  majesty,  and  we  were  glad  to  welcome  its 
swelling  tide  once  more. 

It  is  a  curious  fact  that  nine-tenths  of  the  persons  who 


ii 


ii6 


Niagara. 


\ 


L!<» 


w 


'  » 


I     m 


visit  the  Falls  for  the  first  time  are,  on  their  arrival,  com- 
pletely bewildered  as  to  their  points  of  compass  ;  and 
this  without  reference  to  the  direction  from  which  they 
may  approach  them.  All  understand  the  general  geo- 
graphical fact,  that  Canada  lies  north  of  the  United  States. 
Hence  they  naturally  suppose  when  they  arrive  at  the 
frontier  that  they  must  see  Canada  to  the  north  of  them. 
But  when  they  reach  Niagara  Falls  they  look  across  the 
river  into  Canada,  in  one  direction  directly  south,  and  in 
another  directly  west.  Only  a  reference  to  the  map  will 
rectify  the  erroneous  impression.  It  is  corrected  at  once 
on  noting  that  the  Niagara  river  empties  into  the  south 
side  of  Lake  Ontario  and  not  into  its  west  end. 

One  other  fact  may  be  regarded  as  well-established, 
namely :  that  most  visitors  are  disappointed  when  they 
first  look  upon  the  Falls.  They  are  not  immediately  and 
forcibly  impressed  by  the  scene  as  they  had  expected  to 
be.  The  reasons  for  this  are  easily  explained.  The  chief 
one  is  that  the  visitor  first  sees  the  Falls  from  a  point 
above  them.  Before  seeing  them,  he  reads  of  their  great 
height  j  he  expects  to  look  up  at  them  and  behold  the 
great  mass  of  water,  falling,  as  it  were,  from  the  sky.  He 
reads  of  the  trembling  earth  ;  of  the  cloud  of  spray,  that 
may  be  seen  an  hundred  miles  away ;  of  the  thunder  of 
the  torrent,  and  of  the  rainbows.  He  does  riot  consider 
that  these  are  occasional  facts.  He  may  not  k?w7v  he  is 
near  the  Falls  until  he  gets  just  over  them.  At  certain 
times  he  feels  no  trembling  of  the  earth  ;  he  hears  no 
stunning  roar  ;  he  may  see  the  spray  scattered  in  all  di- 
rections by  the  wind  and,  of  course,  he  will  see  no  bow. 


•^ 


T 


"^•^^ej-  -<-MA  a^^^,-- 


f 


History  and  Incidents. 


117 


c^ 


Naturally,  he  is  disappointed.  But  it  is  not  long  before 
the  grand  reality  begins  to  break  upon  him,  and  every 
succeeding  day  and  hour  of  observation  impresses  him 
more  and  more  deeply  with  the  vastness,  the  power,  the 
sublimity  of  the  scene  and  the  wonderful  and  varied 
beauty  of  its  accessories  and  surroundings.  Those  who 
spend  one  or  more  seasons  at  Niagara  know  how  very 
little  can  be  seen  or  comprehended  by  those  who  "  stop 
over  one  train." 

They  are  fortunate  who  can  see  the  Fallsyfri-/  from  the 
Ferry  boat  on  the  river  below,  and  about  one-third  of  the 
way  across  from  the  American  shore.  The  writer  has  fre- 
quently tried  the  experiment  with  friends  who  were  will- 
ing to  trust  themselves,  with  closed  eyes,  to  his  guidance, 
and  wait  until  he  had  'given  them  the  signal  to  look  up- 
ward. The  experience  with  the  neophyte  is  invariably 
one  of  great  astonishment  and  delight. 

Those  who  may  be  at  Niagara  a  few  nights  before  and 
after  a  full  moon  will  not  fail  to  go  to  the  tower  to  see 
the  Lunar  Bow.  It  is  the  most  unreal  of  all  real  things, 
a  thing  of  weird  and  shadowy  beauty. 

Another  striking  scene  peculiar  to  the  locality  is  wit- 
nessed in  the  autumn,  v'len  the  sun  in  making  his  annual 
southing  reaches  a  point  which,  at  the  sunset  hour,  is  di- 
rectly west  from  the  Falls.  Then  those  who  are  east  of 
them  see  the  spray  illuminated  by  the  slant  rays  of  the 
sinking  orb.  In  the  calm  of  the  hour  and  the  peculiar 
atmosphere  of  the  season,  the  majestic  cloud  looks  like 
the  spray  of  molten  gold.  And  as  the  gorgeous  column 
rises,  fold  on  fold,  up  the  radiant  sky  with  the  glowing 


Hi 


\i 


ii8 


Niagara. 


west  for  a  back-ground,  it  is  not  difficult  for  the  beholder 
to  imagine  that  he  can  realize  something  of  the  splendor  of 

"  The  robes  which  the  glorified  wear." 

In  1840  there  was  a  small  patch  of  stones,  gravel,  sand 
and  earth  called  Gull  Island,  lying  near  the  centre  of  the 
Canadian  rapid  and  about  one  hundred  rods  above  the 
Horse-shoe  Fall.  It  was  apparently  twenty  rods  long 
by  two  rods  wide  and  was  covered  with  a  growth  of 
willow  bushes.  It  was  so  named  because  it  was  a  favorite 
resort  of  that  singular  combination  of  the  most  delicate 
bones  and  lightest  feathers  called  a  Gull.  The  birds 
appear  large  and  awkward  on  the  wing,  but  as  they  sit 
upon  the  water  nothing  can  appear  more  graceful.  They 
are  far-sighted  and  keen  scented.  Their  eyes  are  marvels 
of  beauty.  They  are  eccentric  in  their  habits,  the  very 
Arabs  of  their  race,  here  to-day  and  gone  to-morrow. 
They  are  gregarious  and  often  assemble  in  large  numbers. 
At  times  in  a  series  of  wild,  rapid,  devious  gyrations  and 
uttering  a  low,  mournful  murmur  they  seem  to  be  engaged, 
as  it  were,  in  some  solemn  festival  commemorative  of  their 
departed  kindred.  Hundreds  of  them  will  be  thus 
engaged  for  nearly  an  hour.  One  moment  the  air  will  be 
filled  with  them  and  their  sad  refrain  ;  the  next  this  ceases 
and  not  a  gull  is  to  be  seen.  They  come  as  they  go 
summer  and  winter  alike.  In  thirty  years  the  writer  has 
never  been  able  to  discover  when  nor  whence  they  came 
nor  whither  they  departed.  In  winter  they  generally 
appear  in  the  milder  days,  and  their  disappearance  is 
followed   by    cooler  weather.     If  we  had  a  few  gu/l 


7 


*:    > 


"^-mmm^^m^ 


History  and  Incidents. 


119 


stations  in  the  latitudes  of  their  flight,  they  might  perhaps 
be  utilized  as  a  winged  thermometer. 

In  the  spring  of  1847  a  long  and  fierce  gale  from  the 
west,  driving  the  water  down  Lake  Erie  caused  the 
highest  rise  ever  known  in  the  river.  It  rose  six  feet  per- 
pendicular on  the  Rapids  and  for  the  first  time  reached 
the  floor  plank  on  the  old  bridge.  The  greater  part  of 
Gull  Island  was  washed  down  in  this  flood,  and  ten 
years  after  it  had  wholly  disappeared. 

The  vague  tradition — the  origin  of  which  cannot  be 
traced — that  there  is  a  periodical  flux  and  reflux  of  the 
waters  in  the  great  Lakes,  which  embraces  a  period  of 
about  seven  years,  is  not  confirmed  by  the  writer's  obser. 
vation,  if  it  be  intended  to  affirm  that  the  ebb  and  flow 
are  both  completed  in  seven  years.  His  observation 
shows  that  there  is  a  flow  of  about  seven  years,  and  a  re- 
flux which  is  accomplished  in  the  same  period.  The- 
water  in  the  Niagara  was  very  low  in  1843-4,  again  in 
1857-8,  and  again  in  1871-2.  This  last  is  the  lowest 
long  continued  shrunkage  ever  known.  It  is  probable 
the  flow  will  recommence  in  1873.  I^  is,  however,  alto- 
gether probable  that  the  general  level  of  the  Lakes  will 
fall  hereafter,  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  forests  and 
the  cultivation  of  the  land  along  their  shores.  In  this- 
case  the  waters  of  the  Niagara  and  Detroit  rivers  may,  in 
the  far  future,  meet  in  the  bed  of  Lake  Erie,  and  their 
margins  be  covered  with  orchards  and  vineyards  more 
extensive  and  productive  than  those  along  the  Rhine. 

Here  the  writer  may  appropriately  mention  an  extraor- 
dinary performance  of  a  fish-hawk,  which  he  witnessed 


120 


Niagara. 


I    '  N 


t 


one  pleasant  June  day,  while  standing  on  the  short  bridge 
between  Bath  Island  and  Goat  Island.  The  hawk 
descended  into  the  rapids  just  above  the  bridge  and 
seizing  a  mullet,  apparently  about  ten  inches  long,  rose 
with  it  almost  perpendicularly,  but  bearing  somewhat 
toward  the  island.  When,  seemingly,  about  three 
hundred  feet  above  the  water,  by  some  mishap  he  lost 
his  hold  of  the  fish  which,  of  course,  began  a  fall  of  ever 
increasing  velocity.  The  hawk  turned  instantly  in 
pursuit  and  within  twenty  feet  of  the  water  actually  re- 
captured the  fish  and  bore  him  off  in  triumph.  As  there 
was  no  visible  motion  of  the  wings  the  ^vriter  could  only 
account  for  this  apparent  violation  of  the  laws  of  gavity  * 
by  supposing  that  the  bird,  the  living  matter  must  have 
possessed  a  certain  inherent  power,  a  certain  vim,  which 
enabled  it  to  accelerate  its  downward  motion,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  air  bladder  of  the  fish  may  have  been 
fully  distended,  thus  retarding  his  motion. 

St.  John  de  Cr6ve  Cceur  in  his  travels  in  upper 
Pennsylvania,  in  1798,  describes  a  similar  scene  and  gives 
a  pictorial  representation  of  it. 

A  hawk  having  risen  in  the  air  with  a  fine  pike  is  set 
upon  by  an  eagle  and  compelled  to  drop  his  game. 
Thereupon  the  eagle  starts  after  and  secures  it  before  it 
strikes  the  water  below. 

The  Hermit  of  the  Falls,  so  called,  Mr.  Francis  Abbott, 
came  to  the  village  in  June,  1829.  He  was  a  rather  well- 
looking,  respectable  young  man  of  moderate  attainments 
who  was  subject,  apparently,  to  a  mild  form  of  inter- 
mittent derangement.    Though  his  manner  was  eccentric, 


I 


■^-wi 


Local  History  and  hicidents.         121 

his  conduct  was  harmless,  and  it  is  probable  that  his 
parents,  who,  it  was  afterwards  ascertained  were  respect- 
able members  of  the  Society  of  Friends  in  England, 
encouraged  his  desire  to  travel  and  furnished  him  the 
means  to  do  so.  He  seems  to  have  had  some  taste  for 
music  and  to  have  been  a  tolerable  performer  on  the  flute. 
The  love  of  nature  which  attached  him  so  strongly  to 
Niagara  was  certainly  creditable  to  him.  He  wandered 
much  about  the  island  both  night  and  day,  and  often 
bathed  below  the  little  fall  on  the  south  side  of  Goat 
Island  near  its  head.  He  lived  alone  in  an  unoccupied 
log  hut  directly  across  the  island  from  this  fall  until  about 
the  first  April,  1831,  when  he  removed  to  a  little  cabin 
of  his  own  building  on  Point-view.  In  June  of  that  year, 
just  two  years  after  his  arrival,  he  was  drowned  while 
bathing  below  the  Ferry.  Ten  days  after  his  body  was 
found  at  Fort  Niagara,  brought  back  and  buried  in  the 
God's  acre  at  the  Falls. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


% 


LOCAL   HISTORY   AND   INCIDENTS. 

Avery  on  the  log — Young  man  and  girl  over  the  Falls — Death 
of  Miss  Rugg — Singular  Monument  —  Competition  for 
business  stand — Swans — Eagles — Crows — Ducks  over  the 
Falls — Dogs  go  over  and  live — Reason  why — Water  cones. 

ON  the  morning  of  the  19th  of  July,  1853,  a  man 
was  discovered  in  the  middle  of  the  American  ra- 
pid, about  thirty  rods  below  the  bridge.  He  was  clmg- 

I 


i: 


122 


Niagara. 


ing  to  a  log  which  had  lodged  against  a  rock  the  previous 
spring.  He  proved  to  be  a  Mr.  Avery,  who  had  under- 
taken to  cross  the  river  above,  the  night  before,  got  be- 
wildered in  the  current,  and  was  drawn  into  the  rapids. 
His  boat  struck  the  log,  was  overturned,  and  by  some 
extraordinary  good  fortune  he  was  able  to  hold  to  the 
timber.  A  large  crowd  was  soon  gathered  on  the  shore 
and  bridge.  A  sign  painted  in  large  letters  "We  will 
save  you,"  was  fastened  to  a  building  that  the  reading  of 
it  might  cheer  and  encourage  him.  Boats  and  ropes 
were  provided,  with  willing  hands  to  use  them.  The  first 
boat  lowered  into  the  rapids  filled  and  sank  just  before 
reaching  Avery.  The  next,  a  life-boat  which  had  been 
procured  from  Buffalo,  was  let  down,  reached  the  log, 
was  dashed  off  by  the  reacting  waters,  upset  and  sank 
beside  him.  Another  light,  clinker-built  boat  was  launched 
and  reached  him  just  right.  But  in  some  unaccountable 
manner  the  rope  got  caught  between  the  rock  and  the 
log.  It  was  impossible  to  loosen  it.  Poor  Avery  tugged 
and  worked  at  it  with  almost  superhuman  energy  for 
hours.  The  citizens  above  pulled  at  the  rope  until  it 
broke. 

By  this  time  a  raft  had  been  constructed  with  a  strong 
cask  fastened  to  each  corner,  and  ropes  attached  so  that 
Avery  could  tie  himself  to  it.  It  was  lowered  and  reached 
him  safely.  He  got  on  it  and  seized  the  ropes.  Every 
heart  grew  lighter  as  the  rescuers  moved  across  the  lower 
part  of  Bath  Island,  drawing  in  the  rope,  and  the  raft 
swinging  easily  toward  Goat  Island.  But  when  it  reached 
the  head  of  Chapin's  Island  all  hopes  were  dashed  again. 


^^■je-CTSisats 


Local  History  and  Incidents.         1 23 

The  rope  attacfied  to  the  raft,  as  it  was  passing  below  a 
ledge  in  a  swift  schute  of  water,  got  caught  in  che  rocks. 
All  efforts  to  loosen  it  were  ineffectual.  Another  boat 
was  launched  and  let  down  stream.  It  reached  the  raft 
all  right,  and  Avery,  in  his  eagerness  to  seize  it,  dropped 
the  ropes  he  had  been  holding,  stepped  to  the  top  of  the 
raft  with  his  hands  extended  to  catch  the  boat,  when  the 
former  seemed  by  his  weight  to  be  settled  in  the  water, 
and,  just  missing  his  hold,  he  was  swept  into  the  rapids, 
went  down  the  north  side  of  Chapin's  Island,  and  almost 
in  reach  of  it,  in  water  so  shallow  that  he  rose  to  his  feet, 
threw  up  his  hands  in  despair,  fell  backward  and  went 
over  the  Fall,  after  a  terrific  struggle  with  death,  which 
lasted  eighteen  hours. 

The  names  connected  with  the  next  incident  are  sup- 
pressed out  of  regard  for  the  feeUngs  of  surviving  friends. 
It  is  given  as  a  warning  to  future  visitors  to  Niagara,  not 
to  attempt  any  mirthful  experiments  around  the  Falls. 
A  party  of  ladies,  gentlemen  and  children  were  on  Luna 
Island  just  above  a  little  beech  tree  with  a  bent  top, 
called  "the  Parasol."  A  young  girl  of  ten  was  standing 
near  her  mother  just  on  the  brink  of  the  water  ;  a  young 
man  of  twenty-two  stepped  up  beside  her,  seized  her  play- 
fully by  the  arms  saying,  "  Now,  Nannie,  I  am  going  to 
throw  you  in  ;"  and  swung  her  out  over  the  water.  Taken 
by  surprise,  and  frightened,  she  struggled,  twisted  herself 
out  of  his  grasp,  and  fell  into  the  rapid  within  twenty  feet 
of  the  brink  of  the  precipice.  Instantly  the  young  man 
plunged  in  after  her,  seized  hold  of  her  dress  and  swung 
her  around  toward  her  half-distracted  mother,  who  almost 


n 


124 


Niagara. 


reached  her  as  she  slipped  by  and  went  over  the  Fall^ 
immediately  followed  by  the  young  man.  The  young  girl 
was  found  some  days  afterward  lying  on  her  back  on  a 
large  rock,  holding  her  open  parasol  above  her  head,  as 
though  she  had  lain  down  to  rest.  A  few  weeks  after- 
ward the  father  of  the  young  man  was  coming  up  the 
river  on  the  Maid  of  t/u  Mist,  from  the  lower  landing, 
A  body  was  discovered  floating  in  the  water,  and  by  the 
aid  of  a  small  boat  was  brought  on  board  the  steamer.  It 
was  that  of  his  dead  son. 

The  next  incident  shows  how  the  comic  sometimes 
grows  out  of  the  tragic.  On  the  23rd  of  August,  1844, 
Miss  Martha  K.  Rugg  was  walking  up  to  Table  Rock 
with  a  friend.  Seeing  a  bunch  of  cedar  berries 
on  a  low  tree  which  grew  out  from  the  edge  of  the  bank, 
leaving  her  companion  she  reached  out  to  pick  it,  lost 
her  footing  and  fell  one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  on  to 
the  rocks  below.  She  survived  about  three  hours.  As 
usual,  in  such  cases,  future  pilgrims  to  Table  Rock  in- 
quired for  the  spot  where  this  accident  happened.  The 
following  spring,  an  enterprising  Irishman,  wishing  to  an- 
swer these  inquiries,  and  at  the  same  time  secure  a  little 
daily  bread,  brought  out  a  table  of  suitable  dimensions, 
set  it  down  on  the  bank  of  the  river  and  covered  it  with 
sundry  articles  which  he  offered  for  sale.  In  order  to  en- 
lighten strangers  as  to  the  peculiarity  of  the  spot  he  pro- 
vided a  remarkable  sign,  which  he  set  up  near  one  end  of 
the  table.  He  made  of  pine  boards  a  monumental  obelisk 
about  five  feet  high,  and  painted  it  white.  On  the  rec- 
tangular base  which  supported  the  shaft,  he  painted  in 


Local  History  and  Incidents.  125 

black  letters  the  following  poetical  and  touching  inscrip- 
tion : 

"  Ladies  fair,  most  beauteous  of  the  race, 
Beware  and  shun  a  dangerous  place. 
Miss  Martha  Rugg  here  lost  her  life 
Who  might  now  have  been  a  happy  wife." 


As  the  stand  proved  to  be  a  good  one  and  his  business 
prosperous,  an  envious  competitor,  one  of  his  own  country- 
men, proposed  to  share  it  with  him.  Accordingly  he 
brought  his  table  of  sundries,  and  placed  it  and  them  just 
above  the  original  mourner.  Thereupon  the  latter,  deter- 
mined that  his  rival  should  not  have  the  benefit  of  his 
unique  and  mournful  sign,  removed  it  below  his  own 
table,  having  first  removed  the  table  itself  as  far  down  as 
circumstances  would  permit.  Then  he  added  his  master- 
stroke of  policy.  Theretofore  the  monument  had,  very 
properly,  been  stationary.  Thenceforward  every  day  on 
quitting  business,  he  put  it  on  a  wheel-barrow  and  toted  it 
home,  bringing  it  out  again  on  resuming  operations  in  the 
morning.  If  there  is  one  thing  in  the  world  which, 
more  than  any  other,  ought  to  be  considered  a  perman- 
ency, it  would  seem  to  be  a  monument  to  the  dead.  The 
idea  of  an  itmerating  tombstone  is  eminently  worthy  of  its 
Milesian  origin. 

Previous  to  the  war  of  181 2,  the  Niagara  river  abounaed 
in  swans,  wild  geese  and  ducks.  Since  that  war  none  of 
the  former  have  been  seen  here,  except  two  pairs  which 
came  at  different  times.     One  of  each  pair  went  over  the 


t' 


1," 

i 

1 
1 

1 

i 

1 

) 

! 
1 

126 


Niagara. 


■^alls  and  was  taken  out  alive  but  stunned.  The  other 
two,  faithful  unto  death,  were  shot  while  watching  and 
waiting  for  the  return  of  their  mates. 

Eagles  have  always  been  seen  in  the  vicinity,  and  a  few 
have  been  captured.  A  single  pair  for  many  years  had 
their  eyrie  in  the  top  of  a  huge  dead  sycamore  tree  near 
the  head  of  Burnt  Ship  Bay.  It  was  interesting  to  watch 
the  flight  of  the  male  bird  when  he  left  it  and  his  brooding 
mate  on  a  foraging  expedition.  Leaving  the  topmost  limb 
that  served  as  his  home  observatory,  he  swept  around  in  a 
large  horizontal  circle,  which  formed  the  base  of  a  regular 
spiral  curve,  in  which  he  rose  to  any  desired  height. 
Then,  having  apparently  determined  by  scent  or  sight,  or 
by  both,  the  direction  he  would  take  in  a  tangent,  he  sailed 
grandly  off  to  the  destined  point.  How  grandly  too,  on 
his  return,  he  floated  on  to  his  lofty  perch  with  a  single 
fold  of  his  great  wings,  and  sat  for  a  few  moments,  mo- 
tionless as  a  statue,  before  greeting  his  queenly  mate. 
The  writer,  while  on  a  sporting  excursion  in  the  vicinity 
when  the  young  eaglets  had  but  recently  chipped  their 
cells,  gave  energetic  heed  to  an  intimation  that  the  family 
were  not  receiving  callers  at  that  time,  and  was  quite  con- 
tent to  view  the  majestic  pair  at  a  respectful  distance. 
Spread  Eagle  may  not  be  very  formidable  in  a  newspaper 
— nor  even  in  a  book.  But  a  pair  of  spread  eagles,  each 
carrying  ten  talons,  a  hooked  beak,  a  strong  pair  of  wings 
and  an  unerring  eye,  all  backed  and  propelled  by  an  in- 
domitable will  and  courage,  are  not  to  be  recklessly  trifled 
with.  The  noble  family,  not  liking  the  intrusion  of  their 
human  neighbors,  sought  a  new  home  some  years  since. 


T'ijgaifMMiSwjrj-nsKr-wisii'jMf^ 


Local  History  and  Incidents. 


127 


Before  the  war  of  the  Rebellion,  Niagara  was  rather  a 
favorite  resort  of  that  general  winged-scavenger,  the  crow, 
and  at  times,  in  what  seemed  to  be  a  western  emigration, 
they  were  very  numerous.  But  after  the  first  year  of  the 
war  they  entirely  disappeared.  Snufhng  the  battle  from 
afar  they  turned  instinctively  to  the  bloody  forage  grounds 
of  the  south,  and  did  not  reappear  among  us  until  some 
years  after  the  war  had  ended. 

Large  numbers  of  ducks  formerly  went  over  the  Falls, 
but  not  for  the  reason  generally  assigned,  namely,  that 
they  cannot  rise  out  of  the  rapids.  It  is  true  that  they 
cannot  rise  from  the  water  while  heading  up  stream. 
When  they  wish  to  do  so,  they  turn  down  the  current  and 
sail  out  without  difficulty.  No  sound  and  living  duck 
ever  went  over  the  precipice  by  daylight.  Dark,  and 
especially  foggy  nights  are  most  fatal  to  them.  In  the 
month  of  September,  1841,  four  hundred  ducks  were 
picked  up  below  the  Falls,  who  had  gone  over  in  the  fog 
of  the  previous  night.  In  two  instances  dogs  have  been 
sent  over  the  Falls  and  survived  the  plunge.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1836,  a  troublesome  female  buU-tarrier  was  put  in  a 
coffee  sack,  by  a  couple  of  men  who  had  determined  to 
get  rid  of  her,  and  thrown  off  from  the  middle  of  Goat 
Island  bridge.  In  the  following  spring  she  was  found 
alive  and  well  about  sixty  rods  below  the  Ferry,  having 
lived  through  the  winter  on  a  deceased  cow  that  was 
thrown  over  the  bank  the  previous  fall.  In  1858  an- 
other dog,  a  male  of  the  same  breed,  was  thrown 
into  the  rapids,  also  near  the  middle  of  the  bridge.  In 
less   than   an   hour  he  came   up   the   Ferry  stairs  very 


>'i«cjrMa'^a^UU9lMr««.'<K.«:9:.^II>  ' 


J!    5 

In    1 


128 


Niagara. 


wet  and  not  at  all  gay.     He  was  ever  after  a  sadder  if 
not  a  better  dog. 

The  reason  why  the  animals  were  not  killed  may  be  thus 
explained.  From  the  top  of  the  rapids  tower  the  spectator 
gets  a  perfect  view  of  the  periphery  of  the  Canadian  Fall. 
If  he  will,  on  a  bright  day,  look  steadily  at  the  bottom  of 
the  Horse-Shoe  where  water  falls  into  water,  he  will  see, 
as  the  spray  is  occasionally  removed,  a  beautiful  exhibi- 
tion of  water  cones  apparently  ten  or  twelve  feet  high. 
These  are  formed  by  the  rapid  accumulation  and  con- 
densation of  the  falling  water.  It  pours  down  so  rapidly 
and  in  such  quantities  that  the  water  below,  so  to  speak, 
cannot  run  off  fast  enough  and  it  piles  up  as  though  it 
were  in  a  state  of  violent  ebullition.  These  cones  are 
constantly  forming  and  breaking.  If  any  strong  animal 
should  fall  on  to  one  of  these  cones  as  on  to  a  soft  cushion 
it  might  slide  safely  into  the  current  below.  The  dogs 
were  doubtless  fortunate  enough  to  fall  in  this  way,  aided 
also  by  the  repulsion  of  the  water  from  the  rocks  in  the 
swift  channel  through  which  they  passed.  It  is  not  im- 
possible that  some  strong  man  in  a  light,  strong  boat  may 
thus,  at  some  future  time,go  over  the  Horse-Shoe  Fall  and 
not  be  killed. 


Local  History  and  Incidents.  1 29 


CHAPTER  XV. 


LOCAL   HISTORY   AND   INCIDENTS. 

Niagara  and  bridal  tourists — Anecdotes — Bridges  to  the 
Moss  Islands — Railway  at  the  Ferry — Persons  over  the 
Falls — Other  accidents — First  Suspension  Bridge — Rail- 
way Suspension  Bridge — Mr.  Charles  Ellet — Mr.  John  E. 
Robeling — Extraordinary  motion  of  bridge — De  Veaux  Col- 
lege— Lewiston  Suspension  Bridge — Suspension  Bridge  at 
the  Falls. 

LIKE  all  places  where  men  do  congregate,  Niagara  is 
a  good  place  to  study  human  nature,  many  comical 
phases  of  which  are  there  seen.  For  many  years  it  has 
been  famous  as  a  favorite  resort  for  bridal  tourists,  a 
honeymoon  cell  where  they  can  escape  the  hum  of  busy 
life  and  charm  each  other  with  their  own  particular  hums  ; 
where  in  a  crowd  of  strangers  they  can  be  so  excessively 
proper  that  every  one  else  can  see  how  charmingly  im- 
proper they  are.  And  the  question  is  frequently  asked 
why  it  should  be  so?  why  a  passion  which  is  so  all- 
embracing  in  the  concrete  and  so  all-selfish  and  absorbing 
in  the  particular  as  love  is,  should  exhibit  itself  in  a  place 
so  public  ?  The  most  obvious  reason  would  seem  to  be 
that  Niagara  is  the  only  place  which  by  its  vastness  can 
equal  the  great  happiness  which  is  conferred  upon  those 
fortunate  knights  and  ladies  who  have  received  Cupid's 
divinest  accolade,  and  that  only  its  majestic  monotone 
can  be  in  accord  with   the   blissful   harmony  which  is 


i 


mmm 


^^^^■niPWgg 


-«1 


I     !l' 


r   ■'   ilh 


I 


130 


Niagara. 


1  '; 


•1    I 


purring  in  their  united  hearts.  If  Lord  Byron  could 
have  visited  Niagara  in  bride-time  he  would  not  have 
suggested,  in  the  double-barrel  apostrophe  to  "Love  and 
Glory"  which  opens  the  seventh  canto  of  Don  Juan,  that 
love  at  least  was  flying 

" Around  us  ever,  rarely  to  alight." 

It  is  not  probable  that  all  the  bizarre  and  extraordinary 
performanc  .  o^  humanity  are  to  be  attributed  to  newly 
married  people,  but  they  ;;re  generally  in  such  a  state  of 
sentimental — if  not  mental — hallucination  that  terrene 
matters  seem  to  get  quite  confused  with  them. 

A  few  years  since  a  newly  married  pair  from  Ohio  took 
quarters  at  the  Cataract.  After  breakfast  they  went  out 
to  see  the  sights.  Linking  themselves  together  in  the 
manner  peculiar  to  little  girls  when  they  go  "skip  and  a 
hop,"  they  left  the  Cataract,  went  around  Goat  Island, 
looked  into  all  the  shop  windows,  returned  again  to  the 
hotel  and  walked  up  the  front  stairs  without  breaking  the 
double  lock.  Both  their  happiness  and  rustic  simplicity 
were  complete,  as  manifested  in  their  manner  and  serenely 
beaming  on  their  countenances,  while  all  other  counten- 
ances at  Niagara  were  illumined  with  a  smile. 

One  pleasant  afternoon,  when  the  cars  for  Lockport 
started  from  in  front  of  the  Cataract,  while  the  piazza  was 
filled  with  guests  who  had  just  left  the  dinner  table  and 
were  watching  the  train,— that  perpetual  provocative  of 
curiosity  whether  standing  or  moving — there  came  out  of 
the  broad  front  door  another  newly  married  pair  from 
Indiana,  the  enamored  youth  with  his  right  hand  holding 


V  r 


Local  History  and  Incidents.         131 


:hat 


the  blooming  maid  by  her  left  and  their  arms  extended 
at  full  length.  Thus  he  led  her  out  to  the  cars,  and  as 
she  entered  the  door,  he  turned  toward  the  smiling  crowd 
with  a  most  satisfied  e  oression  on  his  face,  which  plainly 
said  "  that's  the  way  to  do  it." 

Not  long  since,  a  young  Illinoisan — for  a  wonder  he 
had  no  wife  with  him — stopped  at  the  Cataract  over  a 
train  and  had  his  dinner.  Looking  over  the  attractive 
wine  list  of  that  house,  he  ordered  a  large  bottle  of 
Heidseck.  The  waiter  duly  iced  his  goblet  and  filled  it 
with  the  sparkling  wine.  The  guest  drank  about  half  of 
it,  but  as  it  soon  made  a  gaseous  demonstration  through 
his  nose,  he  shoved  it  aside.  On  settling  at  the  office^ 
he  of  course  found  the  wine  on  his  bill.  Enquiring  what 
that  meant  he  was  shown  the  card  by  which  it  was 
ordered.  "And  do  you  charge  for  it?"  "Yes  Sir." 
"  Well  but  it  was  on  the  feed  bill  and  I  supposed  it  went 
with  the  provisions.  Besides  I  only  drank  a  part  of  a 
glass."  Having  his  erroneous  impression  on  the  subject 
corrected,  and  finding  that  the  proprietors  would  not 
"  allow  him  something  for  what  was  left"  he  concluded 
to  take  it  with  him.  The  bottle  was  brought  and  he  took 
it  to  his  room.  After  a  time  he  returned  with  it  to  the 
office  and  said  he  could  not  "get  the  cork  tight,  it  kept 
coming  out  and  leaking  on  his  clothes."  As  there  was 
no  remedy  for  this  except  to  wire  in  the  cork,  and  he 
could  get  no  wire,  he  drank  what  he  could  and  left  the 
remainder  on  the  counter.  When  he  left  for  the  train  he 
had  apparently  more  gas  in  his  head  than  could  well 
escape  at  his  nose. 


iwjiiimiJuiii-T^ 


132 


Niagara. 


\  I 


The  three  fine,  graceful  bridges  which  unite  Goat 
Island  with  the  three  smaller  islands  lying  south  of  it 
named  the  Moss  Islands,  or  the  Three  Sisters,  were  built 
in  1858.  They  opened  a  new  and  very  attractive  feature 
'Of  the  locality,  with  which  all  visitors  are  charmed. 
Those  who  have  been  on  them,  will  remember  what  a 
broken,  wild,  tangled  mass  of  rocks,  wood  and  vines 
they  are.  Nothing  on  Onalaska's  wildest  shore  could  be 
more  thoroughly  primitive.  On  Goat  Island  are  posted 
the  usual  notices  for  the  protection  of  trees.  Whatever 
wit  there  may  be  in  changing  the  location  of  signs,  would 
seem  to  have  been  exhausted  long  ago.  But  one  sum- 
mer morning,  visitors  to  the  outer  Sister,  were  rather 
amused  to  see  in  the  roughest  part  of  the  island,  a  sign 
posted  asking  them,  "  Please  not  hitch  horses  to  the 
trees." 

A  rude  path  with  steps  cut  in  the  talus  of  the  bank  was 
for  some  years  the  only  way  of  getting  down  to  the 
water's  edge  at  the  Ferry.  In  1825  several  flights  of 
stairs  were  erected,  with  good  paths  between,  which  made 
the  task  quite  safe  and  easy.  The  double  railway-track 
at  the  Ferry  was  completed  in  1845.  When  the  neces- 
sary excavations  for  its  passage  were  nearly  finished,  and 
people  were  told,  in  answer  to  their  inquiries,  the  object 
of  it,  the  scheme  met  no  approval  from  tl  ose  conserva- 
tive prophets,  who  have  no  faith  in  new  things,  nor  in 
attempting  to  do  in  the  present,  what  has  never  been 
done  in  the  past.  The  idea  of  a  railway  "  to  go  by  water  " 
was  not  considered  a  brilliant  one.  Indeed  the  majority 
shrugged  their  shoulders  at  the  thought  of  riding  down 


Local  History  and  Incidents.  135: 


that  hill.  But  as  soon  as  the  lumber  cars  were  started  for 
the  convenience  of  the  workmen,  and  people  saw  how  ex- 
peditious and  easy  was  the  trip,  it  was  difficult  to  keep  them 
off  the  cars.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  passengers  have 
ridden  in  them  without  accident  or  injury.  The  motive 
power  is  a  reaction  water-wheel  set  in  a  deep  pit,  and  as 
all  the  machinery  is  concealed,  it  has  quite  the  appear- 
ance of  a  self-working  apparatus. 

The  summer  after  this  railway 'was  finished,  a  tall,  lean,, 
wiry  individual,  whose  Yankee  origin  was  unmistakable, 
went  into  the  Ferry  House  and  examined  the  operation 
of  the  machinery  with  great  interest.  He  made  many  in- 
quiries of  the  Superintendent,  Mr.  George  W.  Sims,  all 
of  which  were,  apparently,  satisfactorily  answered,  and  he 
started  to  leave.  Reaching  the  door,  he  seemed  to  be 
struck  with  a  new  idea,  and  returning  to  the  Superinten- 
dent asked,  "  But  suppose  that  rope  shouldhxt^k  after  the 
thing  gets  going?"  to  which  the  reply  was,  "  It  makes  no 
difference,  as  we  take  the  pay  before  they  start !"    There 

* 

is  alongside  of  the  railroad  a  straight  stairway  of  two  hun- 
dred and  ninety  steps,  for  those  who  prefer  to  use  it. 

Mr.  Sims  has  had  constant  charge  of  this  railway  since 
it  was  built,  and  by  his  good  nature,  prudence  and  firm- 
ness, especially  during  a  pic-nic  avalanche  of  humanity, 
he  has  well  succeeded  in  managing  it  safely  and  satisfac- 
torily. 

Before  recording  the  casualties  which  have  occurred  on 
the  river  we  may  note  the  fact  that,  for  the  first  time  so 
far  as  knotvn,  the  broad  channel  from  Schlosser  to  Navy- 
Island  was  entirely  closed  over  by  the  ice  in  February  of 


f 


y^ 


as 


^ss 


■  y  y 


•■    n 


Mo 

I.  ' 


I  i 


I . 


134 


Niagara. 


the  present  year — 1872.  The  ice  bridge  of  this  year  be- 
low the  Falls,  was  formed  the  night  before  Christmas  and 
remained  until  the  fourth  day  of  April.  There  have 
been  six  ice  bridges  in  the  last  ten  years.  The  winter 
scenery  has  been'  very  fine  ;  but  there  has  been  no  such 
extraordinary  accumulation  of  ice  upon  the  American 
rapids  as  occurred  in  1856.  The  photographers  have  se- 
cured many  striking  views  ;  but  they  have  never  yet  been 
able  to  secure  satisfactory  presentations  of  the  exquisite 
fringes  of  ice  and  frozen  fog  which  we  have  before 
described. 

The  number  of  victims  whom  carelessness  or  folly  has 
sent  over  the  Falls  is  quite  formidable  and  doubtless  quite 
independent  of  any  Indian  tradition  that  the  great  Cata- 
ract demands  a  yearly  sacrifice  of  two  victims,  since  no 
such  tradition  can  be  authenticated. 

In  1 8 10  the  boat  Independence^  laden  with  salt,  filled  and 
sunk  while  crossing  to  Chippawa.  The  captain 
and  two  of  the  crew  went  over  the  Falls.  Another 
of  the  crew  clung  to  a  large  oar  and  was  saved 
by  a  small  boat  from  Chippawa. 

182 1  Two  men  in  a  scow  were  driven  down  the  cur- 
rent by  the  wind  and  also  went  over. 

1825  Two  men  and  boat  from  Grand  Island  went  over. 

1825  Three  men  went  over  in  three  different  canoes. 

1 84 1  Two  men,  engaged  in  smuggling,  boat  upset  in 
the  current,  one  went  over.  One  found  dead 
on  Grass  Island.    Two  men  boating  sand  in 


Local  History  and  Incidents.  135 


a  scow,  were  drawn  into  the  current  and  went 
over. 

1847  A  lad  of  fourteen  undertook  to  row  across  on  a 
Sunday  morning,  and  went  over. 

1848  In  August  a  man  went  under  the  Goat  Island 
Bridge,  within  ten  feet  of  the  shore  ;  asked  of 
persons  on  the  bridge,  "  Can  I  be  saved  ?" 
Soon  after  boat  upset,  and  he  went  over  feet 
foremost,  struck  on  the  rocks  below,  and  never 
seen  afterward. 

1 848  A  small  boy  and  girl  playing  in  a  skiff  which 
swung  off  the  shore ;  the  mother  waded  into 
the  water  and  rescued  the  girl.  The  boy  sitting 
in  the  bottom  of  the  skiff,  with  a  hand  on  each 
side,  went  over. 

1870  A  lady  from  Chicago,  deranged,  threw  herself 
from  Goat  Island  Bridge,  and  went  over. 

1 87 1  In  June  three  men,  unacquainted  with  the  river, 
hired  a  boat  to  cross,  were  drawn  into  the  rapids 
and  went  over. 

1871  July  two  men  in  a  boat  went  over. 

1 84 1  A  number  of  British  soldiers,  stationed  at  Drum- 
mondville,  attempted  to  swim  across  at  the  Ferry 
at  different  times.  Two  were  drowned ;  but 
several  succeeded  in  escaping. 

1842  A  British  soldier  attempted  to  lower  himself 
down  the  bank  opposite  Barnett's  Museum,  in 
order  to  escape  to  the  American  shore.  The 
rope  broke  and  he  was  killed  by  the  fall. 

1844  In  August  a  gentleman  was  washed  off  from  a 


136 


Niagara. 


.  ii 


f:!: 


rock  under  the  great  Fall,  which  he  had  stepped 
onto  in  opposition  to  the  remonstrances  of  the 
guide. 
1846  In  August  a  gentleman  fell  forty  feet  from  a  rock 
below  the   Cave  of  the  Winds  :  was   instantly 
killed. 
1852   In  January  a  man  fell  from  the  Tower  bridge 
into  the  rapids,  and  was  caught  between  tw6 
rocks  just  on  the  brink  of  the  precipice,  whence 
he  was  rescued,  nearly  exhausted,  by  means  of  a 
rope. 
1840  During  the  night  of  April   17th,  Brock's  monu- 
ment was  blown  up,  the  shaft  split  from  top  to 
bottom,  and  half  of  the  observatory  blown  off. 
It  was  a   complete    wreck.     The   unfortuuate 
criminal  who  did  the  mischief,  as  he  confessed 
afterward  when  sent  to  prison  for  another  crime, 
came  near  being — not  hoist  by  his  own  petard 
— but  crushed  by  the  falling  stone,  since  his 
fuse,  being  placed  perpendicular,  exploded  the 
torpedo  sooner  than  he  expected. 
The  old  was  replaced  by  the  new  monument,  in  1855. 
On  the  4th  01  July,  1857,   on  the  partial  completion 
of  the  Hydraulic  Canal,  the  principal  stockholders  inter- 
ested in  the  project,  with  a  number  of  invited  guests,  cele- 
brated the  event  by  an  excursion  from  Buffalo  on  the 
Cygnet,  the   first   steamer   that  ever  landed  within    the 
limits   of  the  village.      Although  steamboats  had  long 
been  run  both  to  Chippawa  and  Schlosser,  two  miles 
above  the  Falls,  yet  it  was  thought  to  be  impracticable 


Local  History  and  Incidents,  137 

and  hazardous  to  run  down  to  the  village.  But  the  wri- 
ter, some  years  before,  taking  Robinson  as  boatswain, 
traced  out  a  channel  which  was  followed  on  this  occasion. 
It  is  now  used  during  the  season  of  navigation  by  tugs 
towing  canal  boats  and  rafts  out  and  in.  No  passenger 
boat,  however,  has  been  placed  on  the  route,  although 
the  sail  on  the  river  is  a  charming  one. 

Mr.  Charles  Ellet,  in  1848,   built  the    first  suspension 
bridge  over  the  chasm.     He  offered  a  reward  of  five  dol- 
lars to  any  one  who  would  get  a  string  across  it.     The 
next  windy  day  all  the  boys  in  the  neighborhood  were 
kiting,  though  not  in  the  Wall  street   manner,  and  before 
night  a  lucky  youth  landed  his  kite  in  Canada  and  re- 
ceived  the   reward.     Of  this  little  string  were  born,  so 
to  speak,  the  large  cables  which   support  the  present  vast 
structure.     But  the  first  iron  successor  of  the  string  was  a 
small  wire  cable,  seven-eighths  of  an  inch  in  diameter.    To 
this  was  suspended  a  wire  basket  in  which  two  persons 
could  cross  the  chasm.     The  basket  was  attached  to  an 
endless  rope,  worked  by  a  windlass  on  each  bank.     The 
ride  down  to  the  centre  was  rapid  and  delightful.     The 
pause  over  the  centre  of  the  abyss  was  apt  to  make  the 
coolest  persons  a  little  anxious,  and  the  jerky  motion  up 
the  opposite  side  was   rather  annoying.     The  engineer 
was  bold  and  brilliant  rather  than  profound  in  his  pro- 
fession.    At  an  entertainment  given  on  the  occasion  of 
the  completion  of  the  bridge  the  good  people  of  the  em- 
bryo village,  elated  with  their  new  acquisition,  were  in- 
clined to  regard  their  neighbors  at  the  Falls  with  rather  a 
patronizing  sympathy.      One  of  the  latter  said  to  Mr. 

J 


: 


i.J 


' 


«i 


138 


Niagara. 


Ellet,  "  This  bridge  is  a  very  clever]  affair,  and  you  only 
need  the  Falls  here  to  build  up  quite  a  respectable  village." 
"  Well,"  he  replied,  "  give  me  money  enough  and  I  will 
put  them  here."  He  had  great  faith  in  dollar-power,  even 
to  the  adding  of  the  supreme  adjective. 

This  bridge  was  an  excellent  auxiliary  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  present  railway  Suspension  Bridge,  built 
by  Mr.  John  A.  Robeling.  It  was  commenced  in  1852 
and  the  first  locomotive  crossed  it  in  March,  1855.  It  is 
one  of  the  most  brilliant  examples  of  modem  engineering. 
It  is  unique  and  stands  unrivalled  for  its  grace,  beauty 
and  strength.  It  is  one  of  the  few  structures  that  not 
only  harmonizes  with  the  grand  scenery  of  the  vicinity, 
but  even  augments  its  impressiveness.  It  is  eminently 
appropriate  to  the  locality  and  admirably  fitted  for  the 
purpose  it  was  designed  to  serve.  Its  plan  is  original, 
apt  and  excellent  in  every  way.  It  was  necessary  that  its 
railway  track  should  be  as  high  as  the  secondary  banks  of 
the  river.  It  was  also  desirable  to  have  a  carriage  way. 
It  was  wholly  inexpedient  to  have  the  two  side  by  side. 
Frightened  horses  and  careless  people  would  cause  many 
serious  accidents.  Besides  this  the  terminus  of  the 
carriage  way  would  be  too  far  from  the  banks  of  the 
river. 

Seizing  at  once  upon  the  natural  capabilities  of  the 
location,  the  engineer  resolved  to  combine  the  advantages 
of  two  systems  of  construction,  those  of  the  Tubular  and 
Suspension  Bridges.  The  carriage  way  was  placed  level 
with  the  banks  of  the  river  at  the  edges  of  the  chasm. 
The  railway  track  was  placed  eighteen  feet  above  on  a 


. 


Local  History  and  Incidents,         1 39 

level  with  the  top  of  the  secondary  banks  across  which 
the  two  railroads  were  to  approach  it.  The  plan  was 
perfect  and  perfectly  and  faithfully  executed  in  all  its 
details.  It  is  practically  a  skeleton  tube.  As  the  traveler 
passes  over  it  in  the  carriage  or  the  railroad  car,  from  the 
almost  total  absence  of  any  vibratory  motion,  he  feels  at 
once  that  he  is  on  a  safe  basis  and  his  sense  of  security 
is  complete.  While  contemplating  the  grand  scenery 
which  may  be  viewed  from  its  floor,  we  may  reverently 
rejoice  that  the  Creator  has  given  to  man,  his  creature, 
the  capacity  to  comprehend,  admire,  utilize  and  adorn  it. 

One  feature  in  the  construction  of  the  bridge  may  be 
noticed  as  having  a  bearing  on  the  question  of  its 
durability.  It  is  well  known  that  when  wrought  iron  is 
exposed  to  long  continued  or  oft  repeated  and  rapid 
concussions,  its  fibres  after  a  time  become  granulated 
whereby  its  strength  is  greatly  impaired  and  finally 
exhausted.  It  is  also  known  that  the  effect  of  rhythmical 
or  regular  vibrations  is  more  destructive  than  the  efifect 
of  those  which  are  inharmonious  or  irregular.  Because 
of  this,  no  body  of  men  is  allowed  to  march  to  music 
across  a  bridge,  nor  a  large  number  of  cattle  allowed  to 
cross  at  once  lest  they  should,  by  accident,  fall  into  a  time 
step  and  so  overstrain  or  break  down  the  bridge.  It  is 
the  difference  bee  ween  a  single  heavy  blow  and  an 
irregular  succession  of  light  ones.  Hence  when  har- 
monious, regular  vibrations  can  be  broken  up,  the 
destructive  efifect  is  greatly  modified  and  retarded. 

The  bridge  is  supported  by  two  large  cables  on  each 
side,  one  pair  above  the  other,  the  lower  pair  being  nearer 


'; 


ir 


i'^ 


140 


Niagara. 


together  horizontally  than  the  upper  pair,  so  that  a  cross 
section  of  the  skeleton  tube  would  be  shaped  somewhat 
like  the  key  stone  of  an  arch.  Each  of  these  large  cables 
is  ten  inches  in  diameter  and  is  composed  of  seven 
smaller  ones  called  strands.  These  smaller  strands  are 
made  of  number  nine  wire  and  each  one  contains  five 
hundred  and  twenty  wires.  Each  of  these  wires  was 
boiled  three  several  times  in  linseed  oil,  so  that  it  was 
covered  with  an  oleaginous  coating  of  considerable 
thickness  and  great  adhesive  power.  Each  wire  was 
carried  across  the  river  separately,  from  tower  to  tower,  by 
a  contrivance  of  the  engineers,  the  chief  feature  of  which 
was  a  light  iron  pully  about  twenty  inches  in  diameter, 
suspended  on  what  might  be  called  a  wire  cord.  This  ap- 
paratus was  called  a  traveler,  and  curious  and  interesting 
was  its  performance  as  seen  from  below.  It  looked  like 
a  huge  spider  weaving  an  iron  web  that  might — perhaps 
will — defy  the  Fates. 

Six  of  the  seven  strands  forming  a  large  cable  were  laid 
around  the  seventh  as  a  centre,  and  when  all  were  pro- 
perly placed  they  were  again  saturated  with  oil  and  paint. 
After  this,  by  another  contrivance  of  the  engineers,  they 
were  wound  or  wrapped  with  wire,  like  winding  a  rope 
cable  with  marlin,  and  thus  the  whole  cable  was  thoroughly 
compacted  laterally  and  made  into  a  huge,  round  iron 
rope.  This  is  covered  with  numerous  coats  of  paint  so 
that  the  oxidation  of  the  inner  wires  would  seem  to  be 
impossible.  The  oft  recurring  succession  of  iron  wire  and 
its  oleagenous  coating,  together  with  the  small  triangular 
spaces  between  the  wires  would  seem  to  reduce  the 


L  ocal  History  and  Incidents,         141 

destructive  power  of  the  vibrations  to  zero.  But  the 
vibrations  are  very  greatly  reduced  and  the  stiffness  of  the 
structure  is  greatly  increased  by  the  use  of  a  series  of 
triangular  stays,  the  triangle  being  the  only  geometrical 
figure  whose  angles  cannot  be  shifted.  There  are  sixty- 
four  of  these  triangles.  Their  hypothenuses  are  formed 
by  over-floor  stays  of  wire  rope  reaching  from  the  tops  of 
the  towers  to  different  points  in  the  lower  floor,  this 
latter,  of  course,  forming  their  common  base  and  the 
towers  their  altitude.  The  stays  are  fastened  to  the 
suspenders  so  as  to  form  straight  lines.  As  the  towers 
and  the  floor  are  rigid  and  solid  in  the  direction  of  the 
lines  they  represent,  it  follows  that  the  intersections  of 
the  hypothenuses  with  the  common  base  form  so  many 
stationary  points  in  the  latter.  These  stationary  points 
present  a  powerful  resistance  to  vibrations.  The  side 
trusses  with  their  system  of  diamond  work  braces  and  the 
weight  of  the  railway  track  on  the  upper  bridge  also  help 
much  to  stiffen  the  structure.  There  are  likewise  fifty- 
six  under  stays  or  guys  of  wire  rope  fastened  to  the  rocks 
below,  designed  to  prevent  upward  and  lateral  vibrations. 
A  heavy  locomotive  with  twenty  full  loaded  cars  produced 
a  depression  of  the  cambre  or  upper  curvature  of  the 
track  of  nearly  ten  inches.  The  ordinary  loads  produce 
a  depression  of  only  five  inches. 

In  Part  Second  attention  is  directed  to  a  point  on  the 
American  side  of  the  river,  just  below  this  bridge,  where 
the  disintegration  of  the  shale  and  abrasion  of  the  super- 
posed rock  is  very  strikingly  exhibited.  A  singular  phe- 
nomenon was  presented  here  in  1863.     A  mass  of  rock 


k 


li     1,     f: 
in 


; 


142 


Niagara. 


\l 


and  shale,  about  fifty  feet  long,  twenty  feet  wide  and  sixty 
feet  deep,  fell  with  a  great  crash  onto  the  hard  bed  of  the 
river.  Directly  following  the  fall  a  remarkable  motion 
was  developed  in  the  bridge  itself.  A  strong  wave  of 
motion  passed  through  the  whole  structure  from  the  Ame- 
rican side  to  the  opposite  shore,  and  returned  again  to  the 
same  side. 

Some  twelve  or  fifteen  mechanics  who  were  at  work  on 
the  upper  or  railway  track,  were  so  alarmed  that  they  fled 
with  all  speed  to  the  shore.  The  motion  imparted  to  the 
bridge  was  incalculably  greater  than,  and  of  a  different 
character  from  any  motion  imparted  by  the  crossing  of  the 
heaviest  trains.  The  rocky  mass  which  fell  was  forty  rods 
below  the  bridge,  and  the  hard  floor  on  which  it  struck 
more  than  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  beneath  it.  The 
mass  itself  fell  about  sixty  feet  average  distance,  and  might 
have  weighed  five  thousand  tons.  The  extraordinary  mo- 
tion imparted  to  the  bridge  by  the  concussion  must  have 
been  transmitted  along  the  subterranean  rock  to  the  an- 
chorages on  the  American  side,  thence  through  the  cables 
and  the  bridge  across  to  the  anchorages  on  the  Canadian 
side,  whence  it  reacted  or  returned  again  to  the  American 
side. 

Mr.  Donald  McKenzie,  the  most  capable  and  intelligent 
Master  Carpenter  and  Superintendent  of  Repairs,  who  has 
been  connected  A\ith  the  bridge  constantly  since  its  erec- 
tion, and  all  the  men  under  him  at  the  time,  make  and 
confirm  this  statement,  and  declare  it  is  impossible  to  ex- 
aggerate or  describe  the  wave-like  motion  which  they  ex- 
perienced while  escaping  to  the  shore. 


1   .  ilr 


Local  History  and  Incidents,  143 


Half  a  mile  further  down  is  De  Veaux  College,  a 
noble  charity  endowed  by  the  late  Mr.  Samuel  De  Veaux. 
He  was  for  many  years  an  active  business  man  at  Niagara, 
and  by  his  integrity,  industry  and  wise  enterprise  ac- 
cumulated a  handsome  fortune.  His  death  occurred  in 
1852,  and  by  his  will  he  left  nearly  the  whole  of  his  estate 
to  certain  trustees  to  establish  an  institution  for  the  care, 
training  and  education  of  orphan  boys.  One  of  its 
sources  of  income  is  the  amount  received  annually  for 
admissions  to  the  Whirlpool.  Every  visitor  to  that 
interesting  locality  will  cheerfully  pay  the  fee  charged 
when  he  understands  this  fact. 

The  suspension  bridge  below  the  mountain  near 
Lewiston,  spanning  the  river  where  it  emerges  from  the 
fearful  abyss  through  which  it  has  been  struggling  for  the 
last  five  miles,  was  built  in  1856,  by  Mr.  T.  E.  Serrel. 
Like  all  suspended  bridges  it  presented  a  graceful  and 
beautiful  appearance  and  was  a  fine  feature  in  the  scene 
at  the  foot  of  the  gorge  whose  western  bank  is  crowned 
with  General  Brock's  equally  graceful  and  beautiful 
monument.  The  guys  designed  to  protect  it  from  the 
efiect  of  the  wind  were  fastened  in  the  rocks  on  either 
side  at  the  water's  edge.  The  great  ice  jam  of  1866  tore 
from  their  fastenings,  or  broke  off,  many  of  these  guys. 
Before  they  were  replaced  a  terrific  gale  in  the  following 
fall  broke  up  the  road-way,  severed  some  of  the  suspen- 
ders and  left  the  structure  a  melancholy  wreck  dangling 
in  the  air. 

The  new  suspension  bridge  as  it  is  called,  just  below 
the  Ferry  at  the  Falls,  was  built  in  1868.     Its  length  is 


144 


Niagara. 


twelve  hundred  feet,  the  longest  structure  of  the  kind  in 
the  world,  and  also  the  narrowest  of  those  designed  for 
carriage  travel.  To  this  fact,  its  narrowness,  it  probably 
owed  its  safety  from  destruction  during  a  fierce  gale 
which  occurred  in  the  fall  of  1869.  The  fastenings  or 
dowels  of  several  of  the  guys  on  the  Canada  side  were 
torn  out  and  the  bridge  at  its  centre  deflected  down  stream 
more  than  its  width  so  that  the  surface  of  its  road-way 
could  not  be  seen  half  its  length.  Then  its  undulations 
from  end  to  end — like  a  stair  carpet  between  the  two 
persons  who  are  shaking  it — were  frightful,  and  for  a  time 
it  was  feared  that  either  cables  or  towers  must  give  way. 
After  the  gale  subsided  the  old  guys  were  made  fast  again 
and  new  ones  were  added  so  that  now  it  seems  a  durable 
work.     The  gale  was  a  good  insurance  for  it. 


J' 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

LOCAL   HISTORY   AND   INCIDENTS. 

Blondin — Effect  of  his  "  ascensions  " — Prince  of  Wales — His 
visit  to  American  side — Escort  of  boys — Testing  his  broad- 
cloth— Grand  illumination  of  the  Falls — Steamer  Caroline 
— Workshops  and  rubbish  along  the  banks — Time  of  re- 
cession of  the  Falls. 

IN  the  year  1858  a  short,  well-rounded,  fair-complex- 
ioned,  light-haired  Frenchman,  a  singular  compound  of 
bones  and  brawn,  muscle  and  gristle,  made  his  appear- 
ance at  the  Falls  and  expressed  a  wish  to  put  a  rope 


\ 


l:^f 


I' 


I 


Local  History  and  Incidents,  145 

across  the  chasm  below  them  for  the  purpose  of  cross- 
ing, and  exhibiting  athletic  feats  upon  it.  He  received 
little  encouragement,  but  having  a  Napoleonic  faith  in  his 
star,  he  persevered  and  finally  obtained  the  necessary- 
authority  to  place  his  rope  just  below  the  Railway  Sus- 
pension Bridge.  It  was  a  well  and  evenly-twisted  rope, 
about  two  inches  in  diameter ;  and  after  stretching  it  as 
taut  as  it  could  be  drawn  it  hung  in  a  moderate  catenary 
curve.  Commencing  at  the  shore  ends  he  secured  stays 
of  small  rope  to  the  large  one,  placing  them  about  eight 
feet  apart.  These  were  made  fast  to  the  shore  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  make  all  the  stays  on  one  side  of  the  main 
rope  parallel  to  each  other  from  the  centre  outward  to  the 
ends.  They  were  made  tight  somewhat  in  the  manner 
that  tent  cords  are  tightened,  and  when  the  structure  was 
completed  it  looked  like  a  gigantic  representation  of  two 
opposite  polygonal  sections  of  the  web  of  the  geometric 
spider  spread  out,  as  near  as  might  be,  horizontally. 

At  each  end  was  a  spacious  enclosure  made  by  a  rough 
board  fence  for  the  use  of  spectators.  Mr.  Blondin, — 
for  this  was  the  name  of  the  new  aspirant  for  acrobatic 
honors, — also  made  an  arrangement  with  the  superin- 
tendent of  the  railway  bridge  for  its  occupation  during 
what,  with  a  shade  of  irony,  he  called  his  "  ascensions." 
Those  who  went  within  the  enclosures  and  on  to  the 
bridge  paid  a  certain  sum.  A  contribution  was  asked  of 
all  outsiders.  He  selected  Saturday  as  the  day  for 
fortnightly  ascensions  and  advertised  his  intentions  very 
liberally.  The  speculation  was  quite  successful  and  gave 
great   satisfaction   to   the   spectators.     He    exhibited  a 


I    • 


)l= 


M. 


i  e 


I !        'I 


^     *- 


1 


il''    ^  •' 


146 


Niagara, 


variety  of  rope-walking  feats,  balancing  on  the  cable, 
hanging  from  it  by  his  hands  and  feet,  standing  on  his 
head,  and  lowering  himself  down  to  the  surface  of  the 
water.  He  also  carried  a  man  across  on  his  back, 
trundled  over  a  loaded  wheelbarrow  and  divers  other 
things,  and  also  walked  over  in  a  sack.  He  sprinkled  in 
a  few  extras  to  heighten  the  effect,  as  the  knowing  ones 
declared,  such  as  slipping  astride  the  cable,  faUing  across 
a  stay  rope,  or  dropping  something  into  the  water.  In 
i860  he  had  a  special  ascension  in  honor  of  the  Prince  of 
Wales.  The  Prince  and  his  party  occupied  a  sheltered 
space  on  the  Canada  side,  and  Blondin  walked  to  it  from 
the  opposite  side,  performing  various  feats  on  the  way  over. 
The  Prince  shook  hands  with  him  as  he  stepp'd  into  the 
shed,  commended  his  courage  and  nerve,  and  had  quite  a 
chat  with  him. 

In  his  ordinary  walks  Mr.  Blondin  carried  the  heavy 
balance-pole  used  on  such  occasions,  and  soon  after 
he  gave  his  first  exhibition  there  was  a  small  argu- 
ment— or  rather  there  were  several  of  them — fur- 
.nished  to  the  disciples  of  Darwin,  illustrating  the  imi- 
tative powers  of  our  quadrumanous  ancestors —  if  such  they 
were.  Possession  was  taken  of  every  board-fence  in  the 
neighborhood  by  the  village  urchins,  each  with  his  bal- 
ance-pole in  hand,  endeavoring  to  "  walk"  its  top.  After 
one  or  two  limbs  had  been  badly  damaged  the  sport  was 
abandoned,  the  enterprising  compounder  of  "a  certain 
cure  for  contusions  and  bruises"  advertised  on  the  inno- 
cent boards  being  the  only  gainer  by  these  exceptional 
exhibitions. 


1' 


Local  History  and  Incidents.  147 

As  illustrating  the  power  of  the  imagination  over  the 
nerves  it  may  be  noted,  that  if  the  great  spider's-web  had 
been  stretched  out  anywhere  on  a  level  surface,  and  not 
more  than  three  feet  above  it,  a  dozen  men  in  any  large 
community  could  have  been  found  to  walk  it  as  uncon- 
cernedly if  not  as  gracefully  as  the  famous  "  ascensionist." 
After  three  years  of  successful  labor  at  Niagara,  he  sought 
higher  walks  in  longer — if  not  wider — fields. 

The  most  notable  occurrence,  however,  which  empha- 
sized the  visit  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  in  that  year  was  the 
illumination  of  the  Falls  late  in  the  evening  of  a  moonless 
night.  On  the  banks  above  and  all  about  on  the  rocks 
below,  on  the  lower  side  of  the  road  down  the  Canada 
bank,  and  along  the  water's  edge,  were  placed  numerous 
colored  and  white  calcium,  volcanic  and  torpedo  lights. 
At  a  given  signal  they  were  all  at  once  set  aflame.  At  the 
same  time  rockets  and  wheels  and  flying  artillery  were  set 
off  in  great  abundance.  The  shores  were  crowded  with 
people. 

The  scene  was  a  most  remarkable  one.  The  steady, 
lurid  light  below  and  the  intermittent  flashes  and  explo- 
sions overhead  ;  the  seething,  hissing  volumes  of  flame 
and  smoke  rolling  up  from  the  deep  abyss  ;  the  ghostly 
appearance  of  the  descending  stream  ;  the  ghastly  appear- 
ance of  the  swift  current  of  white  foam  ;  the  weird  appear- 
ance of  the  cloud  of  spray  with  a  faint  and  fantastic  illumi- 
nation at  its  base,  which  faded  out  in  the  dim  light  of  the 
stars  as  it  ascended  ;  the  peculiarly  deep  but  mufiled  and 
solemn  monotone  of  the  falling  water  by  night ;  the 
livid  hue  imparted  to  the  faces  of  the  quiet  but  deeply 


148 


Niagara. 


'  f& 


•111 


interested  spectators,  all  made  it  memorable  and   im- 
pressive. 

When  the  Prince  visited  the  American  side  some  of  the 
good  people  thought  it  a  little  singular  that  he  should 
avoid  their  well  laid  plank  sidewalks  and  travel  in  the 
middle  of  the  street.  As  the  Prince  with  a  single  com- 
panion crossed  the  Ferry  unheralded  and  quite  informally 
for  a  stroll  on  Goat  Island — the  village  police  having 
received  no  instructions  to  see  that  he  should  not  be 
annoyed — it  was  said,  probably  with  some  exaggeration, 
that  he  soon  had  an  escort  of  juveniles,  and  as  he 
stopped  a  moment  to  look  at  the  Rapids,  a  young  repub- 
lican sovereign,  unabashed  by  the  royal  presence,  and 
with  that  passion  so  common  to  the  feline,  canine,  equine 
and  human  species,  to  touch  everything  which  excites 
their  curiosity,  tested  the  quality  of  the  Prince's  broad- 
cloth, saying  to  a  comrade,  as  he  lifted  one  of  his  coat- 
tails,  "  Feel  of  that  Bob,  a'int  it  soft?"  The  Prince  took 
it  good  naturedly,  and  with  true  English  sturdiness  held 
on  the  even  tenor  of  his  way,  the  police  by  this  time 
securing  him  a  free  course. 

In  December  1837  the  steamer  Gzr^////^  came  down 
from  Buffalo  to  aid,  it  was  said,  the  so-called  Patriots,  then 
engaged  in  an  insurrection  against  the  Canadian  Govern- 
ment. A  motley  collection  of  adventurers  on  Navy  Island 
constituted  the  disturbing,  not  to  say  attacking,  force. 
At  Chippawa  was  stationed  quite  a  body  of  Canadian 
Militia,  under  the  command  of  Colonel — afterward  Sir — 
Allan  McNabb,  who  had  the  good  fortune  to  win  his 
spurs  in  a  single  bloodless  campaign.     By  his  direction  a 


I  ta 


Local  History  and  Incidents.  1 49 


im- 


boat  expedition  was  sent  to  attack  the  Caroline,  as  she  lay 
at  the  old  Schlosser  dock.  In  the  melee  one  American 
was  killed.  The  steamer  was  set  on  fire,  and  her  fasten- 
ings must  have  been  burnt  away  as  also  a  part  of  her  upper 
works,  since  the  writer,  ten  years  later,  while  returning 
from  a  fishing  expedition,  discovered  her  smoke-pipe  lying 
on  the  bottom  of  the  river  in  a  quiet  basin  not  thirty  rods 
below  the  dock. 

A  catfish  of  moderate  dimensions  appeared  to  be  keep- 
ing house  in  it  and,  with  his  head  barely  projecting  from 
one  end,  was  serenely  watching  the  current  for  whatever 
game  it  might  bring  to  his  iron  parlor.  After  the  new 
bridges  were  built  connecting  the  three  Sisters  with  Goat 
Island,  the  guides  and  drivers,  in  their  desire  to  enhance 
the  interest  of  the  scene,  astonished  travelers  by  inform- 
ing that  it  was  the  boiler  of  the  Caroline  which  caused  the 
extraordinary  elevation  of  the  water  which  we  have  before 
referred  to  as  the  Leaping  Rock. 

Nine  miles  from  the  Falls  is  the  Tuscarora  Reservation 
of  four  thousand  acres.  On  this  there  are  about  three 
hundred  and  fifty  Indians,  mostly  half-breeds,  engaged  in 
agricultural  pursuits,  which  supply  a  portion  of  their  neces- 
sities. The  Indian  women  who  are  seen  at  the  Falls  in 
the  summer  season  working  and  vending  different  articles 
of  bead  work  belong  to  this  community.  Every  stranger 
who  may  purchase  any  of  their  articles  will  only  pay  an 
infinitesimal  portion  of  the  indefinitely  large  sum  still  due 
to  them  from  their  Christian  neighbors.  For  the  Tusca- 
roras  have  not  been  more  fortunate  than  others  of  their 
race  in  bargaining  with  their  white  brothers,  and  their 


150 


Niagara, 


lands  are  now  stripped  of  the  fine  oak  timber  and  valuable 
wood  which  stood  upon  it  a  few  years  since,  all  sold  in 
telescopic  quantities  for  microscopic  prices. 

As  a  compensation  for  this  system  of  robbery  we  helped 
to  maintain  a  Christian  missionary  among  them  for  a  few 
years,  and  we  boast  that  they  are  all  Protestants.  The 
value  of  the  conversion  it  may  be  difficult  for  the  Indians 
to  determine,  but  if  they  are  to  meet  their  white  Christian 
friends  in  the  Happy  Hunting  Grounds  beyond  the  Great 
River,  probably  they  devoutly  cherish  the  hope  that  these 
friends  may  be  vastly  improved  in  their  morals  before  or 
by  the  emigration. 

Concerning  the  manufactories,  shops,  rubbish  and  litter 
along  the  race  near  the  brink  of  the  American  Falls, 
which  appear  so  uncouth  and  inharmonious,  and  which 
are  noticed  by  strangers  as  being  a  desecration  of  the 
scene,  it  is  but  just  to  remark  that  the  utilization  of  the 
water  power  here,  in  the  easiest  and  most  economical 
manner,  was  one  of  the  imperative  necessities  of  the  early 
settlement  of  the  country.  For  many  years  a  large  tfTTf. 
tory,  lying  on  both  sides  of  the  river,  was  dependent  u 
the  manufacturing,  repairing  and  milling  facilities  of  tliis 
place.  For  furnishing  these  water-power,  in  those  days, 
was  the  only  agent.  And  the  name — Manchester— given 
to  the  place  by  its  early  settlers  only  foreshadowed  their 
hope  that  it  would  one  day  rival  its  great  English  proto- 
type. But  the  introduction  of  steam,  the  concentration 
of  different  kinds  of  manufactures  at  different  points,  and 
the  production  of  large  quantities  of  any  given  article  at 
one  establishment,  the  facilities  furnished  for  easy  and 


Local  History  and  Incidents.  151 


♦ 


rapid  distribution  of  the  products  by  canals  and  railroads, 
have  revolutionized  the  method  of  conducting  this  branch 
of  industry. 

There  are  fewer  manufactories  in  the  village  now  than 
there  were  thirty  years  ago,  and  if  there  should  be  any 
considerable  increase  in  the  number  hereafter,  it  is  proba- 
ble that  they  will  be  located  on  the  hydraulic  canal,  which 
has  been  excavated  at  so  much  expense ;  which  leaves  the 
river  a  mile  above  the  Falls,  and  empties  into  the  chasm 
half  a  mile  below  them. 

Their  present  location  is  becoming  too  valuable  for 
such  uses,  and  the  time  cannot  be  far  distant  when  they 
will  all  be  removed  with  their  attendant  annoyances. 
And  then  it  may  be  hoped  that  the  narrow  alley  along  the 
river  bank  will  be  widened  and  converted  into  a  pleasant 
boulevard.  Even  more  earnest  must  be  the  hope  that 
Bath  Island  will  be  cleared  of  all  unsightly  and  discordant 
incumbrances. 

Merely  as  a  matter  of  curiosity  an  estimate  has  been 
made  of  the  time  required  to  cut  the  river  chasm  from 
Lewiston  up,  six  miles.  In  the  last  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  years  certain  masses  of  rock  have  fallen,  it  is  stated, 
from  the  water-covered  face  of  the  cataract.  The  surface 
mt  ure  of  each  mass  was  estimated  and  given  at  the 
ti'  The  supposition  is  made  that  each  break  extended 

iv  ihe  bottom  of  the  fall,  although  the  whole  mass  did  not 
fa  at  once.  Of  course,  the  substructure  must  have 
worn  out  before  the  superstructure  could  have  gone 
down.  The  further  supposition  is  made  that  the  projec- 
tion noticed  by  Father  Hennepin,  now  fallen,  and  under 


:4, 


1  'J/i.LL"..WH'^"'P"""P'"""|l! 


152 


Niagara. 


which  four  coaches  could  pass  abreast,  was  twenty-four 
feet  wide,  and  that  it  extended  from  the  American  shore 
to  Goat  Island.  It  is  also  supposed  that  there  have  been 
abrasions  by  piecemeal  that  were  not  noticed  and  that 
equalled  all  the  others.  The  number  of  cubic  feet  in  these 
two  masses  has  been  ascertained.  Then  it  is  supposed 
that  this  combined  mass  was  spread  out  over  a  surface 
one  thousand  feet  wide  and  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet 
deep,  the  average  width  though  less  than  the  average 
depth  of  the  Fall,  as  it  was  below  the  Ferry.  Omitting 
fractions  the  following  is  the  result ; — 

The  whole  mass  contains  12,000,000  cubic  feet.  This 
would  cover  a  surface  1,000  feet  by  160  feet  to  the  depth 
of  76  feet.  This  for  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  years 
is  4  inches  'per  year.  At  this  rate  to  cut  back  six  miles 
would  require  72,000  years  ;  a  mere  shadow  of  time  com- 
pared with  the  age  of  the  corralline  limestone  over  which 
the  water  flows. 


J 


PART    FOUR. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


POETRY. 


Poetry— Table  Rock  albums— Light  literature— More  serious 
efiforts— Colonel  Porter— Willis  G.  Clark— Lord  Morpeth 
— M.  F.  Tupper— A.  S.  Ridgley— J.  G.  C.  Brainard. 

IF  this  chapter  were  to  be  confined  to  fitting  words 
fitly  spoken  upon  the  great  theme,  it  would  be  very 
short.     At  best  it  will  not  be  long. 

Before  the  last  fall  of  Table  Rock,  in  1850,  there  stood 
upon  it  for  many  years  a  comfortable  summer-house, 
where  people  could  take  refuge  from  the  spray,  look  at 
the  Falls,  get  refreshments,  and  also  guides  and  dresses 
to  go  under  the  sheet.  In  the  sitting-room  was  a  large 
round  table,  on  which  were  placed  a  number  of  albums, 
as  they  were  called.  In  these  visitors  could  write  what- 
ever thoughts  or  sentiments  might  be  suggested  by  the 
scene.  With  the  grand  reality  before  them  but  few  per- 
sons attempted  anything  serious  ;  by  far  the  greater  num- 
ber adopting  the  facetious  vein.  It  was  emphatically 
light  literature.  One  or  two  collections  of  it  have  been 
published,  furnishing  the  reader  with  only  a  hapworth  of 
sense  to  an  intolerable  quantity  of  nonsense.     A  few 


T 


154 


Niagara, 


specimens  will  satisfy  the  most  absorbing  taste.  A  Wall 
street  muse  shrunken,  perhaps,  by  mammon  worship^ 
can  only  say : 

"  I  came  from  Wall  street 
To  see  this  water  sheet. 
Having  seen  this  wrter  sheet, 
I  return  to  Wall  street." 


The  next  versicle  is  doubtless  rather  slanderous 


'*  The  goose  we  know  securely  rides 
O'er  crested  waves  and  foaming  tides  ; 
If  all  who  gaze  on  thee  were  floating  there, 
What  flocks,  Niagara,  would  thy  bosom  bear  !" 

There  was  probably  more  truth  than  poetry  in  the  fol- 
lowing : 

"  I  have  come  to  see  Niagara  Falls 

Spread  out  in  all  their  glorious  beauty; 
And  I  have  come  to  see  them  without 
A  d d  cent  of  money." 

Some  tender  swain  who  seems  to  have  found  more 
spray  than  sunshine  dubitates  in  this  couplet : 

"  Great  is  the  mystery  of  Niagara's  waters. 
But  more  mysterious  still  are  some  men's  daughters." 


1) 


A  Wall 
worship^ 


Poetry. 


155 


A  more  fortunate  Strephon  perpetrates  the  following 
sibylant  versicle : 


"  On  Table  Rock  we  did  embrace, 
And  there  we  stood  both  face  to  face. 
The  moon  was  up  ;  the  wind  was  high  ; 
I  kiss'd  her,  and  she  kiss'd  I." 

A  more  ambitious  beholder  having  tried  the  serious 
and  ended  in  its  opposite,  some  critic  wrote  beneath  his 
lines  the  oft  repeated  quotation  : 


t" 


"Tis  but  a  step  from  the  sublime  to  the  ridiculous;" 
whereupon  the  next  critic  hit  the  last  as  follows  : 


1  the  fol- 


"  The  Falls  the  one;  the  other  you." 

A  duo  each  of  flats  and  sharps  furnish  this  running 
stave: 


nd  more 


Iters." 


"  How  lonely  and  desolate  would  the  life  of  man  be  without 

Woman." 

"  What  has  woman  to  do  with  the  Falls  ? 

Quip." 

"  If  woman  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  Fall,  I  should  like 
to  know  who  has,  since  she  engineered  the  first  one  herself ! 

Crank." 

,       "  And  what  a  fall  was  there,  my  countrymen  ! 

Shakespeare,  by  Clink." 


T 


156 


Niagara. 


'II 


\  ' 


b 


1  ■  ^ 


Another  versifier,  considering  the  hopelessness  of  the 
case,  contents  himself  with  these  lines : 

"  I  fain  would  write,  but  my  muse 

Finds  something  here  to  stagger  her; 
And  brain  and  pen  alike  refuse 
To  picture  grand  Niagarer." 

The  following  practical  view  from  a  New  York  city 
muse,  was  wTitten  before  the  day  of  the  New  Court 
House.  That  with  a  Tammany  controller  would  have 
beggared  even  the  great  Persian  millionaire : 

"  The  wealth  of  Croesus  might  have  built 
A  thousand  city  halls; 
But  what  a  si^ht  it  must  have  cost 
To  build  Ni-ag-ra  Falls  !" 

Of  a  far  better  quality  are  the  following  lines  : 

"To  view  Niagara  Falls,  one  day 
A  Parson  and  a  Tailci  took  their  way. 
The  Parson  cried,  whiie  rapt  in  wond'  , 
And  list'ning  to  the  Cataract's  thunder, 
*  Lord !  how  thy  works  amaze  our  eyes, 
And  fill  our  hearts  with  vast  surprise  !' 
The  Tailor  merely  made  this  note  : 
'  Lord !  what  a  place  to  sponge  a  coat !'  * 

But  the  most  popular  of  the  facetious  rhymes  about 
Niagara  are  the  following : 


Poetry. 


157 


:ss  of  the 


i^ork  city 
3w  Court 
>uld  have 


nes  about 


''thoughts  on  visiting  NIAGARA. 

"  I  wonder  how  long  you've  been  a  roarin' 
At  this  infernal  rate  ; 
I  wonder  if  all  you've  been  a  porin' 
Could  be  ciphered  on  a  slate. 

"  I  wonder  how  such  a  thund'rin'  sounded 
When  all  New  York  was  woods  ; 
I  suppose  some  Indians  have  been  drownded 
When  rains  have  raised  your  flooc's. 

"  I  wonder  if  wild  stags  and  buffaloes 
Hav'nt  stood  where  now  I  stand  ; 
Well,  'spose— bein'  scared  at  first— they  stub'd  their  toes, 
I  wonder  where  they'd  land  ! 

"  I  wonder  if  the  rainbow's  been  a  shinin' 
Since  sunrise  at  creation  ; 
And  this  water-fall  been  underminin' 
With  constant  spateration  ! 

"  That  Moses  never  mentioned  ye,  I've  wondered, 
While  other  things  describin'. 
My  conscience  !  how  loud  you  must  have  thundered 
While  the  deluge  was  subsidin'  ! 

"  My  thoughts  are  strange,  magnificent  and  deep. 
While  I  look  down  on  thee. 
Oh  !  what  a  splendid  place  for  washing  sheep 
Niagara  would  be  ! 

"  And  oh  !  what  a  tremendous  water  power 
Is  wasted  o'er  its  edge  ! 
One  man  might  furnish  all  the  world  with  flour 
With  a  single  privilege. 


158 


Niagara, 


t( 


I  wonder  how  many  times  the  lakes  have  all 

Been  emptied  over  here  ? 
Why  Clinton  did'nt  feed  the  Grand  Canawl 

From  hence,  I  think  is  queer." 


As  a  fitting  finale  of  these  humorous  conceits,  we  maj 
append  a  bit  of  information  which  could  not  well  be  intro- 
duced in  its  proper  place.  The  origin  of  the  name  of  the 
"  Devil's  Hole  "  is  not  known.  None  of  the  early  records 
contain  it.  This  fact  having  been  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
sence of  a  New  Englander,  who  had  a  stock  of  juvenile 
rhymes  outside  of  Mother  Goose,  he  suggested  the  fol- 
lowing as  a  solution  of  the  question  : 

"  The  Lord  made  man,  and  man  made  money; 
The  Lord  made  bees,  and  bees  made  honey; 
The  Lord  made  the  Devil,  and  the  Devil  made  sin; 
The  Lord  made  a  hole  and  put  the  Devil  in." 

The  general  belief  has  been  that  his  Kine-footed  Ma- 
jesty had  his  head  quarters  at  the  other  end  of  the  State. 
It  must,  however,  be  confessed  that  of  late  years  he  has 
spent  much  time  in  the  rural  districts.  It  is  also  evident 
that  he  was  very  acdve  among  our  Canadian  friends  from 
i860  to  1865. 


The  most  graceful  rhymes  indigenous  to  the  locality 


Poetry. 


159 


we  maj 
be  intro- 
Tie  of  the 
y  records 
I  the  pre- 
juvenile 
i  the  fol- 


sin; 


oted  Ma- 
the  State. 
•s  he  has 
o  evident 
;nds  from 


e  locality 


are  the  following  by  the  late  Colonel  Porter,  who  was  an 
artist  both  with  the  pencil  and  the  pen.  They  were  written 
for  a  young  relative  in  playful  explanation  of  a  sketch  he 
had  drawn  at  the  top  of  a  page  in  her  Album,  represent- 
ing the  Falls  in  the  distance,  and  an  Indian  chief  and 
two  Europeans  in  the  foreground : 

■"  An  Artist,  underneath  his  sign,  (a  masterpiece,  of  course), 
Had  written,  to  prevent  mistakes,  '  This  represents  a  horse  :* 
So  ere  I  send  my  Album  Sketch,  lest  connoisseurs  should  err, 
I  think  it  well  my  Pen  should  be  my  Art's  interpreter. 

"  A  chieftain  of  the  Iroquois,  clad  in  a  bison's  skin, 

Had   led  two   travelers  through   the  wood,  La   Salle   and 

Hennepin. 
He  points,  and  there  they,  standing,  gaze  upon  the  ceaseless 

flow 
Of  waters  falling  as  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago. 

^*  Those  three  are  gone,  and  little  heed  our  worldly  gain  or 

loss — 
The  Chief,  the  Soldier  of  the  Sword,  the  Soldier  of  the  Cross. 
One  died  in  battle,  one  in  bed,  and  one  by  secret  foe  ; 
But  the  waters  fall  as  once  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago. 

^*  Ah,  me  !  what  myriads  of  men,  since  then,  have  come  and 

gone; 
What  states  have  risen  and   decayed,  what  prizes  lost  and 

won  ; 
What  varied  tricks  the  juggler.  Time,  has  played  with  all 

below  : 
But  the  waters  fall  as  once  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago. 


i6o 


Niagara. 


w 


"What  troops  of  tourists  have  encamped  upon  the  river's 

brink; 
What  poets  shed  from  countless  quills,  Niagaras  of  ink; 
What  artist  armies  tried  to  fix  the  evanescent  bow 
Of  the  waters  falling  as  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago. 


And  stately  inns  feed  scores  of  guests  from  well  replenished 

larder, 
And  hackmen  drive  their  horses  hard,   but  drive  a  bargain 

harder ; 
And  screaming  locomotives  rush  in  anguish  to  and  fro  : 
But  the  waters  fall  as  once  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago. 

"  And  brides  of  every  age  and  clime  frequent  the  island's 

bower, 
And  gaze  from  off  the  stone-built  perch — hence  called  the 

Bridal  Tower — 
And  many  a  lunar  belle  goes  forth  to  meet  a  lunar  beau, 
By  the  waters  falling  as  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago. 

"  And  bridges  bind  thy  breast,  Oh  stream!  and  buzzing  mill- 
wheels  turn. 

To  show,  like  Sampson,  thou  art  forced  thy  daily  bread  ta 
earn  : 

And  steamers  splash  thy  milk-white  waves,  exulting  as 
they  go. 

But  the  waters  fall  as  once  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago. 

"  Thy  banks  no  longer  are  the  same  that  early  travelers 

found  them, 
But  break  and  crumble  now  and  then  like  other  banks 

around  them  ; 


Poetry. 


i6r 


the  river's 

fink; 

s  ago. 

♦ 
^planished 

a  bargain 

fro  ; 
ears  ago. 

le  island's 

called  the 

beau, 
s  ago. 

zzing  mill- 
bread  Xo 

cutting   as 

ears  ago. 
travelers 

ler  banks 


And  on  their  verge  our  life  sweeps  on — alternate  joy  and  woej 
But  the  waters  fall  as  once  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago. 

"  Thus  phantoms  of  a  by-gone  age  have  melted  like  the  spray. 

And  in  our  turn  we  too  shall  pass,  the  phantoms  of  to-day  : 

But  the  armies  of  the  coming  time  shall  watch  the  ceaseless 

flow 
Of  waters  falling  as  they  fell  two  hundred  years  ago." 

On  turning  to  the  more  serious  rhythmic  utterances  on 
the  great  theme,  the  reader  naturally  experiences  a  feel- 
ing of  disappointment  that  a  scene  which  has  filled  and 
charmed  so  many  eyes  should  have  found  but  a  single 
interpreter — one  who  never  saw  it,  and  who  fortunately 
wrote  concerning  it  only  nineteen  lines.  The  sublimest 
act  of  the  Creation  is  described  in  ten  words.  Only 
those  who  see  Niagara  know  how  fast  the  tongue  is 
bound  when  the  thought  struggles  most  for  utterance. 
One  who  seems  to  have  experienced  this  feeling  thus 
expresses  it : 

"  I  came  to  see; 
I  thought  to  write ; 
I  am  but        dumb." 

The   late   Mr.   Willis   G.   Clark    thus   expands — and 
weakens — the  same  sentiment : 

"  Here  speaks  the  voice  of  God — let  man  be  dumb, 
Nor  with  his  vain  aspiring  hither  come. 
That  voice  impels  the  hollow-sounding  floods. 
And  like  a  Presence  fills  the  distant  woods. 


( 


1 62  Niagara. 

These  groaning  rocks  the  Almighty's  finger  piled  ; 
For  ages  here  his  pa'nted  bow  has  smiled, 
Mocking  the  changes  and  the  chance  of  time — 
Eternal,  beautiful,  serene,  sublime  !" 

Only  the  three  first  of  the  following  pieces  are  from  the 
Table  Rock  Albums.  The  late  Lord  Morpeth  was  poet- 
ical, if  not  a  poet,  as  his  lines  abundantly  prove  : — 


it 


NIAGARA    FALLS. — BY   LORD   MORPETH. 


"  There's  nothing  great  or  bright,  thou  glorious  Fall  ! 
Thou  mayest  not  to  the  fancy's  sense  recall. 
The  thunder-riven  cloud,  the  light'ning's  leap, 
The  stirring  of  the  chambers  of  the  deep  ; 
Earth's  emerald  green,  and  many  tinted  dyes, 
The  fleecy  whiteness  of  the  upper  skies  ; 
The  tread  of  armies  thickening  as  they  come. 
The  boom  of  cannon  and  the  beat  of  drum  ; 
The  brow  of  beauty  and  the  form  of  grace, 
The  passion  and  the  prowess  of  our  race  ; 
The  song  of  Homer  in  its  loftiest  hour. 
The  unresisted  sweep  of  human  power  ; 
Britannia's  trident  on  the  azure  sea, 
America's  young  shout  of  Liberty! 
Oh!  may  the  waves  which  madden  in  thy  deep 
There  spend  their  rage  nor  climb  the  encircling  steep; 
And  till  the  conflict  of  thy  surges  cease 
The  nations  on  thy  banks  repose  in  peace." 


The  following  was  written   before  the  advent   of  the 
spiritualistic  Misses  Fox : 


mm 


led; 


Poetry. 

"  A  scene  so  vast,  so  wildly  grand 
May  well  a  mortal's  mind  amaze, 
For  e'en  the  swift-wing'd  Angel-band 
On  Mercy's  errands  stop  to  gaze." 


163 


from  the 
vas  poet- 


A  meek  and  reverent  beholder  says  : 

"  I  dare  not  write  my  name, 
Where  God  hath  set  his  seal." 


all! 


In  the  following  example  of  high  bosh  the  "Proverbial" 
philosopher  is  his  own  peer.  It  is  only  introduced  be- 
cause it  was  the  text  for  a  better  lyric  from  which  some 
extracts  are  given  : 


"  NIAGARA. — nV  TUPPER. 

"  I  longed  for  Andes  ;  all  around  and  Alps, 
Hoar  kings  and  priests  of  Nature  robed  in  snow, 
Throned  as  for  judgment  in  a  solemn  row, 
With  icy  mitres  on  their  giant  scalps, 
Dumb  giants  frowning  at  the  strife  below. 


steep; 


"  I  longed  for  the  sublime.     Thou  art  too  fair, 
Too  fair,  Niagara,  to  be  sublime  ! 
In  calm,  slow  strength  thy  mighty  floods  do  flow 
And  stand  a  cliff  of  Cataracts  in  the  air, 
Yet  all  too  beauteous,  W^ater  bride  of  Time  ! 


of  the 


■*'  Veiled  in  soft  mists  and  cinctured  by  the  bow. 
Thy  pastoral  charms  may  fascinate  the  sight. 
But  have  not  power  to  set  my  soul  aglow, 
Raptured  by  fear  and  wonder  and  delight." 


164 


Niagara. 


I 


The  lyric  above  referred  to,  and  from  which  the  fol- 
lowing extracts  are  made,  was  written  by  the  late  Mr.  A. 
S.  Ridgely,  of  Baltimore,  Md.  : 

"  Man  lays  his  sceptre  on  the  ocean  waste. 
His  foot-prints  stiffen  in  the  Alpine  snows. 
But  only  God  moves  visibly  in  Thee, 
Oh  King  of  Floods  !  that  with  resistless  fate 
Down  plungcst  in  thy  mighty  width  and  deptfi. 
#    ♦     #     *     #     Amazement,  terror,  fill, 
Impress  and  overcome  the  gazer's  soul. 
Man's  schemes  and  dreams  and  petty  littleness 
Lie  open  and  revealed.     Himself  far  less — 
Kneeling  before  thy  great  confessional — 
Than  are  bubbles  of  the  passing  tides. 
Words  may  not  picture  thee,  nor  pencil  paint 
Thy  might  of  waters,  volumed  vast  and  deep; 
Thy  many-toned  and  all  pervading  voice; 
Thy  wood-crown'd  Isle,  fast  anchor'd  on  the  brink 
Of  the  dread  precipice;  thy  double  stream. 
Divided,  yet  in  beauty  unimpaired; 
Thy  wat'ry  caverns  and  thy  crystal  walls; 
Thy  crest  of  sunlight  and  thy  depths  of  shade. 
Boiling  and  seething  like  a  Phlegethon 
Amid  the  wind-swept  and  convolving  spray. 
Steady  as  Faith  and  beautiful  as  Hope. 
There,  of  beam  and  cloud  the  fair  creation,. 
The  rainbow  arches  its  ethereal  hues. 
From  flint  and  granite  in  compacture  strong  ; 
Not  with  steel  thrice  harden'd — but  with  the  wave 
Soft  and  translucent — did  the  new-born  Time 
Chisel  thy  altars.     Here  hast  thou  ever  poured 
Earth's  grand  libation  to  Eternity, 


■■■i 


Poetry. 


165 


the  fol- 
Mr.  A. 


rink 


V 


ave 


Thy  misty  incense  rising  unto  God — 
The  God  that  was  and  is  and  is  to  be." 

But  the  noblest  lines  inspired  by  the  great  Cataract 
were  written  by  a  poet  who  never  saw  them,  the  late 
John  G.  C.  Brainard.  They  were  written  at  a  single 
short  sitting,  in  answer  to  a  call  for  *'  copy  "  for  the  head 
of  the  literary  column  of  the  Connecticut  Mirror  of  Hart- 
ford, which  he  then  edited.     They  are  a  true  inspiration : 

"the    falls   of   NIAGARA. 

*'  The  thoughts  arc  strange  that  crowd  into  my  brain 
While  I  look  upward  to  thee.     It  would  seem 
As  if  God  pour'd  thcc  from  his  '  hollow  hand  ' 
And  hung  his  bow  upon  thine  awful  front, 
And  spoke  in  that  loud  voice  which  secm'd  to  him 
Who  dwelt  in  Patmos  for  his  Saviour's  sake, 
*The  sound  of  many  waters,'  and  had  bade 
Thy  flood  to  chronicle  the  ages  back, 
And  notch  his  cent'ries  in  the  eternal  rocks. 

**  Deep  calleth  unto  deep.     And  what  are  we 
That  hear  the  question  of  that  voice  sublime? 
Oh  I  what  are  all  the  notes  that  ever  rung 
From  War's  vain  trumpet  by  thy  thundering  side  ! 
Yea,  what  is  all  the  riot  man  can  make 
In  his  short  life  to  thy  unceasing  roar  ! 
And  yet,  bold  babbler,  what  art  thou  to  HiM 
Who  drown'd  a  world  and  heap'd  the  waters  far 
Above  its  loftiest  mountains  i* — a  light  wave 
That  breaks  and  whispers  of  its  Maker's  might.* 


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